WASHINGTON (PNN) - January 26, 2012 - If the Republican primaries are any indication, one big debate in the upcoming election will be whether illegitimate President Obama is pushing the country toward a European-style welfare culture.

Mitt Romney, for example, argues that, "Over the past three years, Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an entitlement society."

Newt Gingrich has taken to calling Obama "the best food-stamp president in Amerikan history."

Obama, in contrast, says the government must play an increasing role - what he likes to call "shared responsibility" - to ensure a society that is fairer.

So is Obama turning the country into a welfare society and away from one focused on opportunity?

While it's true that the country has been headed in this direction for many years - with the explosion in entitlements since the 1960s and the aging of the population - Obama has, in fact, greatly accelerated the trend. Examples:

Direct payments. The amount of money the federal government hands out in direct payments to individuals steadily increased over the past four decades, but shot up under Obama, climbing by almost $600 billion - a 32% increase - in his first three years. Obama's last budget called for these payments to climb another $500 billion by 2016, at which point they would account for fully two-thirds of all federal spending.

People getting benefits. According to the Census Bureau, 49% now live in homes where at least one person gets a federal benefit - Social Security, workers comp, unemployment, subsidized housing, and the like. That's up from 44% the year before Obama took office, and way up from 1983, when fewer than a third were government beneficiaries.

Food stamps. This year, more than 46 million - 15% of all Amerikans - will get food stamps. That's 45% higher than when Obama took office and twice as high as the average for the previous 40 years. This surge has been driven in part by the Depression, but also because Obama boosted the benefit amount as part of his stimulus plan.

Disability. The number of people on Social Security disability has steadily climbed since the 1970s, thanks mainly to easier eligibility rules. But their numbers jumped 10% in Obama's first two years in office, according to the Social Security Administration. That sharp rise was due largely to meager job prospects. When employment opportunities are scarce, experts many who could otherwise work sign up for disability benefits instead.