Fixing Our Broken Welfare System

One thing that drives me absolutely crazy is hearing people complain about the welfare system in our country.  It's not that I don't think the system needs repair.  I know it is greatly ineffective.  My problem is that almost all of the people like to complain about it without offering any idea of how they would fix it.  Making matters worse, many people complain about redistribution of wealth constantly.  Just yesterday, I got into a discussion about this subject based on a person's complaint about us handing out "cash, food stamps and housing allowances to people who chose the life they have."  The absurdity of this claim is only topped by the fact that the same people debating the issue with me wondered why I think many conservatives don't want to help those in poverty.  Maybe because all we hear is constant complaining about doing it?  We'll get back to that.

More importantly, I mentioned during that discussion that I learned a lesson years ago.  I was taught that you will never really be taken seriously if you bring someone a problem.  You should always bring a solution.  Even if its not the right one, or the one that ends up correcting the issue, you always want to give the person a way to fix the problem.  That's exactly what I feel should be done with the welfare discussion.  Here's my solution.  

The solution to our welfare problem begins with access to education.  Education in our country is a joke at all levels.  Particularly the educational system in poverty stricken areas.  It needs a complete overhaul.  I'm pretty sure that is a concept on which we all agree.  Our children should all have equal access to quality education at no additional cost.  Conservatives may want to sit down for this...it's going to cost a lot of money!  That money will have to come from somewhere.  Increased taxes.  Decreased spending in areas like defense.  I'm not really going to tackle the funding issue, but this will cost.  

Of course, even access to great education won't solve the poverty problem.  There will always be a need for assistance.  It's how we give people that assistance that is important.  Here are some aspects of our system that must be in place for this to work:

• Assistance must provide for the needs of the individuals, including the nutritional needs, without the ability to transfer the assistance to another party or use it for unnecessary items (things like take out pizza - I'm looking at you Papa Murphy's).  
• Contraception must be available at no cost to individuals on welfare.  
• People should be approved for an amount of assistance and it should remain at that level, regardless of whether or not they have any children after they are approved (women who are pregnant should be approved including the anticipated child).  
• Drug tests should be mandatory and each recipient should be tested every time they pick up their assistance.
• Vocational training or higher education (not beyond a bachelor's degree) should be mandatory and provided at no cost.  Missed training (excluding illness) should constitute reduced or denial of assistance.  (There's that spending again conservatives.  Try to stay calm.)
• Companies that don't pay a living wage and have employees working full time while collecting benefits should be charged a penalty.  We do not subsidize the workforce of private companies...I'm looking at you Wal-mart. 
• None of these reforms should reduce the amount of assistance provided.  If savings are realized from the reforms or additional revenue is brought in (thank you, Wal-mart), the money should be used to stabilize the assistance programs during periods of recession and/or expand coverage. 

Now I'm sure that there are plenty more specific changes that I would make if I knew the welfare program well enough.  The point is that I'm not going to sit here and complain about the government taking my money and helping people who need assistance.  I would much rather have my taxes pay for assistance to the impoverished than wars around the world in which we have no business being involved.  I would much rather have some people taking advantage of the welfare system than have rich defense contractors getting even richer lining the pockets of decision-makers to get million and billion dollar contracts.  We spend as much on our defense as the next 13 countries below us on the list of top spenders combined...with room to spare!  I'm pretty sure we can lower the budgets for defense and reallocate a large portion of that money to making sure that we can feed and shelter our people. 

The point is that we are all sick of hearing about it.  Conservatives are in the minority when it comes to what they try to condemn as "entitlement" programs.  The reason our country is seeing a fundamental shift in the way that people are voting is because we don't want to see the rich getting richer while complaining about assistance programs.  And don't tell me how generous conservatives really are.  Generous people don't complain about the fact that their money is being redistributed to the poor.  We want to help the people of the United States.  We see no reason that anyone should go hungry or homeless in the richest, most powerful nation in the world.  Do something about it or deal with it.  Just stop complaining.

Republican Elitism Exposed

Well, I wrote this earlier today and had problems posting it.  So I re-wrote it for you here:

Thank you Romney supporters for finally making the point that I have been trying to get through the heads of middle and lower-class conservatives for a long time now.

At a fundraising event supporting Mitt Romney, supporters talked to a L.A. Times reporter.  Here's what I found interesting.  First, two of the people quoted in the article refused to give their names to the reporter.  One of the two said that it was because he feared that it would harm his business if he did.  I wonder why?  Could it be that people know what Romney is about and don't want to give their money to a person who supports a corporate puppet candidate?

The other supporter was even more fun.  I can't paraphrase what she said because it's actually too good:

"We've got the message," she added. "But my college kid, the baby sitters, the nails ladies -- everybody who's got the right to vote -- they don't understand what's going on. I just think if you're lower income -- one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works, they don't understand how the systems work, they don't understand the impact."

 Let me highlight the best part for you again -

"I just think if you're lower income -- one, you're not as educated, two, they don't understand how it works, they don't understand how the systems work"

First, let me point out the anacoluthon in her statement.  In case she reads this, that means that the syntax of her sentence changed mid-sentence.  She began by using the pronoun "you" and finished with "they."  That is a grammatical lesson from one "lower income" person who is "not as educated" to a rich, elitist, Romney supporter.  

So, according to the rich elite, because someone is low income they are obviously less educated.  Well...let's look at a list of people who weren't very well educated:

• Abraham Lincoln - one year of formal schooling
• Amadeo Peter Giannini - founder of Bank of America and high school dropout
• Andrew Jackson - President, General, Attorney, Judge, Congressman - no formal education
• Ansel Adams - world-famous photographer and high school dropout
• Barry Diller - founder of Fox Broadcasting Company
• Charles Culpepper - owner and CEO of Coca Cola and high school dropout
• Dave Thomas - billionaire founder of Wendy's and high school dropout
• Frank Lloyd Wright - never attended high school
• Henry Ford - did not attend college
• Michael Dell - founder of Dell Computers dropped out of college
• Rush Limbaugh - millionaire media personality dropped out of college
• Steve Jobs - Apple founder and college dropout
• Bill Gates - Microsoft founder and college dropout
• Walt Disney - no explanation needed - high school dropout

This is just a sample of the list.  So if these people aren't lower income how can they not be well educated?  The answer is because this woman's ideas are asinine.  The sad thing is that she in not in the minority when it comes to the Republican mindset.  These people actually believe that because we make less money than they do, that we are not as intelligent.

So, because these people have money, they must be more intelligent and we should just be putting the people that they like in office.  Never mind the fact that those people will likely work to make their rich friends richer and keep us ignorant poor people in our places.

But, what about the fact that over half of the recent college graduates are unemployed, you ask?  Well they don't count because they are poor.  According to this person's theory their education probably wasn't very good otherwise they should be rich like her.

The point is that there is a predominant elitist attitude in the Republican party.  They work very hard at convincing the middle and lower-classes that they are trying to protect their freedom and create jobs by giving themselves huge tax breaks.  How exactly does their paying less taxes result in me making more money or my neighbor getting a new job?  The theory is that these rich people will not just take the money to the bank, but use it to create new jobs.

Let's look at what Warren Buffet, one of the most well-respected and richest businessmen in the world, has to say about that:

"to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation."

So, to recap, Republican supporters show their elitism even though their arguments make no sense and they are contradicted by someone who has reached the pinnacle of the business world.  Yet so many middle and lower-class people will still vote for Romney swearing that he will make things better for them.  Don't worry, if he manages to win, the upper class will thank you for your support by dropping off your pink slip on the way to the bank.

Political cartoons by David Horsey