The coming debate in America is nothing new. Some combatants want to frame it as haves vs have-nots, charity vs. selfishness, but it is not. The essence of the discussion is not over benefits, entitlements, distribution or taxation. It is not over things people want or deserve. It is over governmental power. Power and its reciprocal: individual liberty. As governmental efforts and influence increase, regardless of how well intentioned, the degree of individual liberty decreases.
Power and freedom can not be discussed separately, any more than one can separate "up" from "down." "Power" and "freedom" are a formula, a relationship: Power/Freedom=1. As one increases the other decreases. And in it hides the basic failure of the French Revolution: Liberty and equality are contradictory.
This was the essence of the original Revolution, the heart of the failure of the Confederation, and the basis of the Federalist--Anti-Federalist debate between Adams and Jefferson that resulted in the Constitution.
It is the essential modern government argument and it is hard to believe it has become so trivialized here, in the nation that invented it.
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