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Andrew, it is not a matter of "allowing" people more choices, it's more that getting rid of government welfare will "cause" more choices. Welfare advocates never look at the problems welfare has caused, they always look at what's going to happen to the people dependent on welfare, especially the children. What most people do not understand about welfare is that, over time, welfare becomes a career choice. Little girls drop out of school to have babies. Without welfare, they put the babies up for adoption or get abortions. With welfare, they stayed home and raised their kid. When they found out they could get more money for having another kid, they got pregnant again. At the beginning of the welfare system the girls having babies and going on welfare were reasonably well educated. They weren't necessarily scholars, but they could read, write and do arithmetic and everything else on needs to be able to do to get along in society. The sudden proliferation of families on welfare put a strain on
housing and the "projects" were born. Housing run by the state for low-income families, welfare recipients. As these filled up more had to be built so land was taken from black homeowners so they could put the projects in the black neighborhoods. This was done on purpose, because the blacks were the weakest segment of society, both economically and politically. These projects did not enhance the property values of the surrounding communities either, but hey, we're doing it for the children who are dependent on welfare, so that made it alright. At the same time this was going on we had a surge in drug use in this country. The profit margins are so high that its financially rewarding for a pusher to hang around schools to sell drugs and also the projects. Now, if the setting I've described isn't grim enough consider this, where are the father's of all these welfare babies? Do they stay at home living with the mother of their children? No. Why? Lots of reasons but the father is probably
unemployed (else why live in the projects) boredom is high, drugs are available, tempers are short. Plus, he's just another mouth to feed and he's more than willing to leave just to get away from this harpy he's living with. . . . . . . . . So, what happens to the children growing up in this environment? Many of them are "street smart" before entering school and they don't want to go to school and get an education and work hard all their lives and pay taxes, etc. They just want what everybody else wants, freedom. So, if they are girls, they get pregnant and drop out of school and the cycle starts over only this girl isn't as well educated as her mother. She's not nearly as well equipped to stand the stresses of life as her mother. And her children become a little less educated also. And so it goes, each generation on welfare begetting another generation that's a little less competent, a little less able to stand on their own two feet, a little less able to actually care what happens to themselves
much less others. . . . . . . . . . Believe me, I have only touched in the very briefest way the harm that welfare has caused. The increase in juvenile crime, deterioration of the inner city, the existing crises in the schools are all caused or exacerbated by the welfare system. . . . . . . . . . So, to sum up Andrew, I'm not the one being naive. Greed and prejudice are part of human nature and have been with us since the beginning of time and may be with us forever, but the welfare state is only about 30 years old, so let's get rid of the welfare state first and then deal with greed and prejudice. Regards, Stan. . . . . . . . PS. sorry about the formatting of this post. I use an old computer at home with a Lynx browser and it does not allow any blank lines or more than on space between letters. I want to upgrade but I need my Iomega stock to go up first! |
