The popular mantra in South Carolina is that our government is too big and spends too much money. So it's important to take note when a small-government, pro-privatization group says we aren't spending enough money on public services. Specifically, that we aren't making the kinds of investments that could pay off down the road.

That's the conclusion of the Heartland Group, which issued a report recently examining how states are doing 10 years after the Congress acted to "end welfare as we know it." ...

This conclusion points to a familiar problem in our state: We let a philosophical disdain for government in general and taxes in particular get in the way of actions that in the long run will save us more than we spend.

We don't provide 4K and other early childhood education programs to all poor kids, even though we could recoup most of the money in lower retention rates in first and second grades, and all of it many times over by the time those kids become adults who have steady jobs rather than ... qualifying for welfare.

We don't provide routine treatment for the poor before physical or mental illnesses become crises ...

The Heartland Institute didn't talk about any of those other issues, but it doesn't take much of a leap to get from what it said specifically about the investments we don't make in welfare to the general point — a point so obvious that it's a cliche — that our leaders just don't seem to get: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. And it costs way less.

The (Columbia) State