It’s easier to just pass out benefits and cash than it is to create programs where the person receiving those benefits has to have some skin in the game.
Getting off the ship at Ellis Island there was no Social Security, no welfare, no school lunch programs, and no food stamps. Only what you brought with you.
According the Bible, Methuselah lived to the ripe old age of 969 years dying just seven days before the big flood. Do you suppose he had to pay taxes all that time?
If I could go back in time and change one thing in my life I would look harder at how to retire with a higher income and retire earlier and enjoy life more.