The late Charlie Kirk warned that a dangerous disease was spreading through America — a rising generation adrift, disconnected from community, stuck in stalled mobility, and cut off from opportunity. His warning has only grown more urgent with time.

One of the central engines of this decline is ObamaCare. Passed in 2010, it allowed and even incentivized states to enroll able-bodied adults in Medicaid without work requirements. In doing so, Washington turned a focused safety net into a wide-open welfare entitlement.

When Medicaid was created in 1965, it had a clear and noble purpose: to provide health care for the most vulnerable — low-income children, seniors, the disabled, and people in nursing homes. It also offered short-term assistance for individuals who hit hard times, serving as a temporary bridge to a better future.

ObamaCare broke that design. The system was suddenly flooded with people earning more than the federal poverty level of income. Medicaid spending doubled in just a decade, crowding out the people in need that it was originally intended to protect. Yet the fiscal cost, as serious and steep as it is, represents only part of the problem.

The deeper damage is cultural. By giving free government........

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