by Louise Christensen

Created on: April 15, 2011

As a blanket statement the notion of welfare not working is erroneous. Perhaps some parts of welfare don’t work, but that is only in some states. There are states that make provisions for people on welfare to earn their diplomas, or get vocational training and some can even earn degrees. The idea that the welfare system in general is useless is only as true as the state system running it.

Across the nation, welfare does precisely what it was designed to do.  The notion of a welfare system was introduced in the late 1800’s and has changed according to societal expectations down through the years. Social Security was designed in the same framework and the first Social Security program included providing shelter and food, not just cash assistance and was initially not dependent on contributions made by individual workers. That program eventually morphed into a system of balances that are prevalent today.

Although there are federal guidelines for the distribution of resources, each state has some leeway in how funds are distributed. Some states are overwhelmed by the vast number of people in need of assistance and can barely do the bare minimum for each case. The notion of setting up a program to encourage people to get training or education to improve their ability to earn a living is a bit more than the state can handle; it doesn’t mean they don’t try – it simply isn’t very successful.

The idea that welfare makes people lazy is imprecise and judgmental to the extreme. People are born to be who they are and although parenting can have a big role in shaping the destiny of a child, each person either has the drive to do or not to do something with their life. Not everyone gets beaten down by their circumstances and a little support and encouragement can go a long way to help others who are not as strong or brave as their counterparts.

Welfare does what it was designed to do. It helps keep families off the street and fed. Certainly it is not a perfect system, which can be attested by the number of homeless people that live in the USA. Much of that has to do with personal choice. No one in America can be forced to take welfare. The exception to that is when a child is found to be deprived of food or shelter because of the willful refusal of a parent to provide same by any means possible. That does not mean that even children receiving aide don’t go without. We live in a free nation and have individual choices we make on a daily basis. Children can sometimes be caught in the insidious desperation brought about by a mother addicted to drugs and helpless to do right by her children.

Welfare is not a problem; it is simply a system of resources. As with anything in society, the problems we see stem from choices made. The poor choices made by the relatively few stand as glaring reminders of the base weakness that might exist in all of us if we allow it to emerge. Welfare helps keep us alive until we can make better choices.

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