First in a five-part series.

Part one: Philip Klein: The welfare state is destroying America

Part two: Conn Carroll: Europe: the canary in the welfare-state coal mine

Part three: Philip Klein: Obamacare has made the debt crisis worse

Part four: David Freddoso: How the left got Americans hooked on welfare

Part five: Conn Carroll: Ending the welfare state

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law on Aug. 14, 1935, laying what he described as a “cornerstone” of the modern welfare state.