bubosquared | (no subject)

Somone linked to this thread, and um. Can I just say I don't get the (seemingly? apparent?) attitude that welfare is a waste and too many people take advantage of it.

Maybe it's just that I've always lived in Belgium, always known about social security, always known that if I needed it, there would be money enough for me to live on, if not luxuriously, as long as I would try to get myself out. (Because I don't know about the States, but over here, you do need to actually try to get a job to stay on welfare. Details available upon request. I have assimilated way too much of my mother's job. Argh!)

Maybe it's just that I'll always be a child of social workers, and raised with fairly socialist beliefs anbd principles, and always socialist/scommunist at heart. I just don't see anything wrong with the government helping those in need. That is, imo, one of the things they're there for, and I don't care in the least that I'm paying heavy taxes to support this and other government serivces in this country.

Yes, in an ideal world, people would pay this contribution voluntarily. But this isn't a perfect world, and I do think sometimes the government needs to do something that maybe people won't like, but which will benefit everyone in the end.

My parents have worked with poor, homeless and/or unemloyed people since I was a toddler. I have absorbed a scary amount of knowledge about the subject over the course of countless dinner conversations, if there is one thing I've learned, it's this:

You could be next.

There is no telling which way the wind will blow you. Looking at all the people my parents have worked with, there are people who never finished high school, but also people who have sometimes multiple university degrees. There are (some, very few) lazy bums, and people who just cannot get a break. Single mothers, single fathers, families, anyone.

You're not paying to support lazypeople taking advantage of the government. You're paying to help keep alive people who've hit a rough spot, just like others will be paying if and when you hit a rough spot. You're paying to fight generational poverty by giving kids a chance to study what they want, to find better-paying jobs, jobs they want, instead of jobs they're forced into because they need to start earning now. You're fighting poverty on the long run as well as the short run.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Arrrgh. As somebody who, like most college students not being supported by their parents in the US, is not that close from being on welfare, it always baffles me the mindset that allows people to think that welfare is solely for the lazy and the freeloaders. I can't cite where I found this, but one Republican's reason (among others) for cutting benefits was that in almost every welfare household, there is a color TV. ::shakes head:: (That would also lead into a rant about how fucking stupid the American government is, but I need to go to school soon ^.^)

I suppose it ties back into Weber's Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism crap, as well as an indoctrination into the belief that if you work hard enough, you WILL make it. Of course, they never mention that on the end of this little Horatio Alger fantasy is tacked on "if you have the means and connections." It's such a bourgeousie/upper class mindset that's been imposed on the government it's ridiculous. And what I find worst is that some of those few who have scrabbled out of poverty and made something out of nothing (my parents) think that if they did it, anybody can. It's a bloody vicious cycle.

Absolutly. Do you notice that people who say that think that everyone is the SAME?

Doesn't that sound kind of...collectivist? Think about it...

Oh, it's not. But you can't say there aren't freeloaders either. -_- Because I've known them. Welfare is good, but it's got problems. And when some people who really need it are denied but the freeloaders I knew were still abusing it, it just gives me a bad opinion.

I don't think welfare should be gotten rid of. I just think it needs serious reform.

It already HAS serious reform and it's done nothing but makes things worse.

Freeloaders are EVERYWHERE and they're not all poor.

The people who are denied probably make like 10c above the cut off line, which is ridiculous.

Also, those who oppose welfare want to ruin it in any way they can, which doesn't help any.