MITT ROMNEY was soundly mocked for suggesting this week that President Obama helped himself get re-elected by handing out “gifts” to various constituencies, such as free contraceptives to young women and amnesty to young illegal immigrants. During the campaign, of course, Romney also famously said that “47 percent” of Americans pay no taxes and wouldn’t be voting for him no matter what he did.

While it’s easy to dismiss Romney’s comments as sour grapes, the underlying issue is worth some consideration, because it’s indisputably true that for millions of Americans, the government is something that sends them checks, while for others, it is the place where a lot of their money goes.

As everybody knows, upper-income taxpayers pay almost all the income taxes in this country. Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 110 million Americans receive some form of means-tested aid, such as food stamps, public housing, the Earned Income Credit and Medicaid. The total cost for the 80 federal government programs that support the poor is now running about  $1 trillion a year, the Congressional Budget Office says — and that’s up about 32 percent in just three years. And the total doesn’t include Social Security or unemployment insurance.

When liberals read numbers like these, they say, “Good!” because for them, the chief purpose of government is to help the needy.

When conservatives read them, they ask, “Are government handouts really the best way to help the poor?”

Both groups are right, of course. In the short term, giving someone who’s hungry a box of food is certainly the right thing to do. Likewise, a poor person who needs emergency medical treatment should get it for free. And a politician, such a President Obama, whose entire political philosophy is based on such accommodations, can always count on getting the votes of people who receive them, as well as the people whose focus is on the road immediately ahead.

However, it’s also true that the best social welfare program is a good job, and that the most ardent Great Society ambitions can only be fulfilled if there’s a vibrant private economy to pay the bills.

Unfortunately, a politician, such as Mitt Romney, who promises to foster individual success, is accused of being a selfish snob. Utterly ignored is the role individual success plays in the payment of taxes and, thus, making government welfare programs possible. All you have to do is look at the federal deficit to see that the economic scales have tipped so far in the wrong direction, a fiscal collapse is possible. Where will Aid to Families with Dependent Children and Section 8 Housing be when a loaf of bread costs $100 and unemployment is 30 percent?

The Founding Fathers said the organizing principle of the government of the United States would be to secure the people’s rights of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” That formula worked so well, the country became very rich, which also meant it became very generous.

Will our success lead to our ruin?