I have instances every day where I see first hand the failings of our system. I see people being rewarded for doing poorly. I remember field day as a kid. Some won, many lost, everyone got a ribbon. The blue first place was an awesome thing to have pinned to your shirt. The red ribbon of second was also great, as was third. Then there was "honorable mention". I thought honorable mention meant "loser". I had a few of each, honorable mention was the most common. We can't all be winners. Then one year we didn't do ribbons at all and nobody tried. There must be rewards for exceptional ability and effort. Likewise there should be nothing for those who don't try to excel.
This brings me to welfare and other social programs. I don't care for them. Welfare and these social aid programs were meant to be used as a way to get people on thier feet, to provide a home to raise thier children and make sure they get what they need to get off on the right foot, so the next generation gets out of the projects. It didn't quite happen that way.
I believe the govenment made a major faux pas by thinking the answer to helping these people was to give them handouts. If a person gets something without earning it, they tend to take it for granted. Eventually they become complacent and lazy. Then they expect the handout. The icing on the cake is when they use all of thier free time getting into some kind of trouble.
In nature, an organism that lives in a system that either does not positively contribute or is detrimental in nature is called a parasite. A parasite is never seen as a good thing.
I know very intellegent people design goverment programs. If this welfare program is such a failure, why does it continue to exist? I have several theories, some mild, some extreme.
Commerce excuse:
We continue to give social benefits to the downtrodden to augment the flow of money. They get money, they consume goods, people have jobs to supply them, and the money flows.
I know for a fact if had some of my own tax money back I would spend it on me. i like stuff and I would buy more. I think everyone would.
Grand Conspiracy theory:
We give welfare so that those demographics become lazy and complacent, it keeps who WE want in change and propetuates OUR superiority.
I could almost buy this one.
Cynics view:
Such a large percentage of the population recieves some sort of social aid that any politician using welfare reform/repeal as a part of thier campaign would be committing career suicide. And most of our legislators are pandering, spineless creeps that are more interested in passing non-laws than trying to make a difference in our country.
BINGO!
I am an optimist at heart. I always hope for the best and try to see the good, but I also prepare for the worst and aknowledge that there is always a downside.
I say let those who cannot help themselves be helped. Those who will not help themselves must be allowed to reap what they sow. They will either find a way to make it, or drown in thier own ocean of apathy and self pity. No honorable mention in the form of a welfare check.
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3 comments:
interesting, where did you get that little piece of prose?
I've thought about welfare and social aid before and what I ended up with was that the family (in most cases) should be resposible for welfare. Not the gubment.
A legal tie-in that makes parents and siblings more responsible for the actions of their kinfolk would take a big chunk out of the welfare expenses.
A welfare check isn't nearly as motivational as your next of kin giving you a hard time because he/she has to help pay your rent.
I grew up on welfare/freelunch/ect. Until my my mom could legally leave me at home by myself she couldn't work. All the while she had 7 sisters and a brother that could had footed the bill for her bad decisions and misfortune.
I think what you are getting at is social darwinism.
But if you don't feed and water the dirty masses they don't die off, they steal your Beamer and sell it.
Aside, if I collected crabs, I would put a top on my bucket. I mean duh.
Many good points, but taken to an extreme. We all know dumb people can breed smart kids and vise versa. I just feel that "social net" has been converted into a hammock that shiftless people lie in and try to cheat the system, or abuse it. People, even at the most base level, posess a cunning when needed to achieve thier goals. If they have no need to achieve, they do not. I don't believe it is all genetic, it's mostly culture(environment). In the ghetto, kids see every one around them in poverty. The only successes they consistently see in thier neighborhoods are gang members. Even the ghetto culture, the entertainment revolves around the themes of violence, gangsta rap, ect. It is not genetic, it's culture.
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