There's a Facebook group (isn't there one for everything?) that is titled thusly: "Making Drug Tests required to Get Welfare (their capitalization, not mine). I briefly read the wall for this group, noting that several military brass said "yes" to drug testing as they are required to get tested to serve the country; that women asked birth control be prescribed alongside with it and teaching women to stop having kids they can't support; and men who suggested varying opinions from "get rid of welfare" to requiring folks to get entry-level jobs before the government will support them.
I sat back and thought about this for a bit between my daughter's requests to helping her complete a level in a Spongebob Wii game and my infant daughter's babbles while barrel-rolling on the carpet. I think about the time a woman told me her humiliation in accepting welfare for a handful of months after finding out she was pregnant, and until her husband worked enough hours and overtime to build up some savings and put food on the table. I think about where I would be if my husband died tomorrow - a too-large townhouse with only a part-time job, two daughters to raise and a broken life to rebuild. I think about where my husband would be if I died tomorrow - a too-large townhouse with a full-time career, two daughters to raise and place in daycare, and a broken life to rebuild.
Is there any way to truly know how many people abuse the system? It's hard to say. We Americans dally back and forth between wanting to do what's right and punishing those who take advantage of it. It burns us to know that our taxes go into a system that isn't foolproof, that moms addicted to crack are getting pregnant with crack babies and using our money to buy drugs. That's the picture in your head, right? When you think of welfare, you think of a drug-addled mother carelessly letting her children go hungry and lie around in her filthy, dank apartment while she snorts a few lines. You think of unmarried women at local government offices, standing in impossibly long lines with their unruly children waiting for their monthly handouts. Isn't that sad that it's the only picture of welfare that we (assume to) know?
You know, I am frustrated by the fact that there are women probably out there (and it's mostly women) living off my taxes so they can have lots of material goods, knowing they get more if the birth more. But I don't think it's the majority. We are concerned about filtering out the few who exploit the system instead of figuring out how to get these folks on their feet again. Welfare has become less of a crutch and more of an income; this is not right. Social Security has gone the same way; in a day when it was meant for paying for milk and bread, it is now becoming the sole income for our retiring class. Going on disability has gone the same way; instead of helping folks until they are healed, people turn to it for their long-term livelihood.
And that, dear readers, is where I am angry with these social programs. Not for the drug-addicted mothers who need our help getting off the drugs and into a productive life of their own; it's because more and more people are looking to social programs to fund their lives entirely, without bothering to look at the future and envision themselves on their own. This is not the American dream. Welfare and Social Security should be to cover the "what-if's" in your life: What if my spouse died tomorrow? What if I lost my job tomorrow? What if my house burned down tomorrow? What if I got hurt while working (and not that "I kind of pulled the muscles in my back" bull - the type where you destroy discs in your back or lose some kind of appendage or your sight)? Then you can relax and say: The government will help me get back on my feet. They will be there to help find my way back. Not "the government owes me this." Not "the government should have to pay for everything." Not "I'm hurt enough that it pinches a little when I move; my workplace hurt me and the government should pay for it."
Ironically, I believe we perpetrate the lower classes by allowing this to happen. What's the saying about teaching a man to fish? Instead of providing those chronically on social programs with more and more money, let's start teaching them to navigate their way to self-sustainment. Don't throw greenbacks at the problem and let it leak all over the place. We shouldn't even be having this conversation about kicking drug addicts off welfare. They do need the help, after all. They know better but can't find their way out. Don't fund their houses and addictions just so they have the sorriest-looking thing that they call a livelihood until kingdom come. Let's get people to be productive parts of society and not just strung out along for the ride (no pun intended).
Now, I know there are exceptions. There are people who will need help the rest of their lives. There are people who are so disabled that there is no hope of recovery. But is it the majority? No. This is why social programs exist: Because people who truly need the help will have it when they need it. I have two autistic cousins who are blossoming under the diligent work of their parents and the social programs they are a part of to become productive once they are adults. They are extremely bright, energetic and going to school. Maybe someday they will crunch numbers alongside the smartest engineers or impress professors at a prestigious art academy. But for now, the social programs are there to help lay the groundwork alongside the parents, and it's the way it should be: Attentive parents who need help understanding a condition their children have in order to make them the very best they can be. Building to their strengths. Helping them understand shortcomings and how to get around them.
And really, isn't that part of the American existence? We're not so different from autistic children, people dealing with chronic back pain from a work injury or young widows with children to support. Social programs should be there to help them re-center, build their strengths and get around their shortcomings in tragic life-changing events... finding a way to get back on their feet. We're not all superheroes in the face of adversity, but we're not all damsels in distress, either.
