Essay/Term paper: Welfare: toil and trouble

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Economics

Welfare: Toil and Trouble


Millions of Americans are signed up for welfare; the program designed to
aid poor and needy families. Unfortunately, it has now become a way of life for
many. Many argue that welfare is not destroying our culture and creating a
dependent people who have learned to abuse certain privileges that come with
living in America, but history has proven that this is not true.
Last August, when President Clinton signed the welfare reform bill, he
said "Today, we are taking a historic chance to make welfare what it was meant
to be: a second chance, not a way of life." Welfare was designed to give a
boost to the poor-to help struggling families make it through the year while
they got back on their feet. What it has become is a target for gluttonous
mothers and others who have no values. Many mothers who are on welfare have
become used to it, and instead of using the money and aid to stay alive while
they look for a job, they are sitting at home waiting by the mailbox for the
next check to come in. In the meantime, many mothers are having more kids,
because-more kids, more welfare money. These women relish the thought of
getting free money in the mail-for doing absolutely nothing.
Welfare is destroying out culture. Many argue that welfare is necessary
for many families, and that it must not be cut. Some argue that it is giving
starving families the boost they need to make it one more year. This is only
partially true. Yes, we need welfare, but we also need to limit the amount of
time a family can stay on it. By letting families stay on welfare for extended
periods of time, we are only creating a lazy, dependent culture. Mothers figure
that the welfare check will come in the mail, so where's the motivation for
going out and getting a job? There isn't one. This is why President Clinton
signed the welfare reform bill. He knows that the welfare laws need to be
refined, and he has chosen himself as the apostle for this chore.
Many people are abusing welfare in more ways than one. The most common
form of welfare abuse is just staying on it too long, and using it as an income,
instead of a boost. There are worse cases, though, which clearly show the need
for reform. Many mothers are using welfare as an income, and using the money
for purposes other than survival. Many are using the money to buy drugs.
Inevitably, these drugs lead to an even more destructive way of life. Many of
these moms become even more promiscuous, having babies for the money that will
be added to her monthly check.
Welfare is destroying our society. It is creating and encouraging a
slothful and idle culture, and it needs to stop. In the past, honest,
hardworking people who just needed a push used welfare. Quickly though, welfare
has become something that too many depend on. Many of the families on welfare
are poor and lazy. Satisfied with their monthly check, many of the recipients
use it as their only form of income, and do nothing else. The government is
only encouraging and enabling their idleness by paying these people to sit
around doing nothing. These people, if not for the welfare reform bill, would
have spent their lives avoiding work for as long as the government would allow,
which is usually a lifetime. An example of this idleness is Eulalia Rodriquez.
This Jezebel, who calls herself Rodriguez, has been on welfare for twenty-six
years, has fourteen children on welfare, seventy-four grandchildren and fifteen
great-grandchildren. Rodriguez is sick of people criticizing her for being on
public assistance. "I'm sick of people acting like I'm some kind of crook.
We've got a lot of kids to feed." She failed to mention the fact that she lives
in a six-bedroom, three-story apartment nestled in a gated Boston community
called Harbor Point. What's worse, these people even have the nerve to complain,
whining about how the minimum wage is too low, and that the jobs offered have no
dignity. The nerve.
Then there are the immigrants. Not the immigrants who come to America
looking for freedom and a new life-I'm talking of the ones who invade our
beaches and our borders, and head straight for the welfare sign up desk. These
people suck up tax dollars from the honest and hard working, and give the
society nothing in return. No more. These people will all be cut off with the
new bill.
The greedy mothers, the lazy families, the leeching immigrants-they all
signal that we need to change the system. So we begin anew. Starting over with
a new plan, and a new attitude, destined to succeed, and not likely to fail. No,
it is not harsh or discriminating, and yes, it is very necessary.