by MaryO

Created on: September 07, 2008

Perhaps the biggest myth when it comes to welfare in America is that the majority of taxpayer dollars go towards social and human services welfare programs. In fact the largest benefactor of American tax payer dollars are corporate welfare recipients. In light of this, by all means drug tests are in order along with polygraphs, extensive criminal background checks, credit checks, stock holdings, etc. When a corporation gets bailed out by the government we the taxpayers pay for it. When a farmer gets behind, he loses his farm, or is forced out by a corporate holding.

With a little effort and some time researching the numbers will astound you. What is spent in comparison to corporate welfare, on social programs and what we understand as 'welfare' and human services programs is less than 2% of the national budget overall. The same pitiful amount we extend in global aid even though President Bush proposed a 7 percent funding for aid to help third world countries, we contribute less than any developed nation in the world.

Having said this and consdiering the state of the economy today. Who exactly is on welfare? Who is collecting and using food stamps these days? The majority of people are lower middle class, working poor to poor caucasion families. Those who can no longer afford to put gas in thier cars and food on the table. Should they be drug tested? Should parents in states with a working wage of 9.00 an hour and a state minimum wage of 5.15 an hour which neither supports a family, pays for the gas required to get to a job, or feed a family, be drug tested, or should the policy makers who do not live under these same standards be drug tested and better yet, forced to live on the wages that they set and believe to be fair and reasonable for working class America?

Questions like this come armed with a great bias, and a long history of misinformation. Of course there are those who abuse the system, any and every system. From corporations and governments to food stamps and G.A.

The bigger question is do we want to spend more tax dollars employing yet another incompetant government employee to undertake yet another time consuming and ineffective, cog in the slow turning wheel of social services?

A crack head is pretty obvious as is a junkie, as is an alcoholic and not too many of them show up clean or sober to pick up a check. For anyone else who has a real need and has to go to one of these fabulous government offices to take care of business, the smell, the company, the polite and effecient workers, the timeliness of your visit (never less than half a day) is really more of a deterrant than any drug test could ever be.

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