I didn’t get a sense from the article that these people are hypocrites. I think many of them are somewhat ashamed that they’re taking government money, and are acting out of that impulse.The vast majority of Americans want to do their part to fix the fiscal problems of the federal government. The two approaches to doing this (raising revenue or cutting spending) are both valid at a macro level, and people tend to focus on the side which impacts them the most. For the conservatives in this article who are receiving help from the government, they want a little less help. The blue-staters who pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits want to pay a little more rather than lose benefits.

I think the racial and economic divisions that people play up are really secondary in this case.