Up for Debate: Welfare
I know we have discussed welfare briefly in the past, but due to recent comments and emails, I thought it would be a good debate topic. So, today's debate/discussion topic:
Is government welfare beneficial for society?
In addition to your thoughts, experiences, and beliefs, I'd love to hear arguments on whether you believe welfare is Biblical and/or Constitutional. If you believe welfare is wrong, are there some cases when it is acceptable? If you believe it is right, should there be limitations placed upon the recipients?
Is government welfare beneficial for society?
In addition to your thoughts, experiences, and beliefs, I'd love to hear arguments on whether you believe welfare is Biblical and/or Constitutional. If you believe welfare is wrong, are there some cases when it is acceptable? If you believe it is right, should there be limitations placed upon the recipients?
posted by Crystal Paine at 7:51 AM
7 Comments:
It beneficial. It is beneficial for the children/elderly and those with disabilities that would otherwise go without.
Some personal experiences:
Just last night I spoke with a woman that has 3 kids, a husband that is in and out of rehab and without a steady income and she is a waitress. Without food stamps they won't eat.
I also work with a woman and her husband that have a child on medicaid. She works as a waitress he has a full-time job and works part-time at Cracker Barrel with us. The child that is own Medicaid has a heart condition that, without medical care, would end his life. Without Medicaid they wouldn't be able to pay his bills. So their options are the death of their son, extreme debt, or Medicaid. Which would you pick?
A woman in my community lost her job and her car broke within a few weeks. She and her son did go hungry while they waited for the paperwork to go through on food stamps. They had nothing in their house to eat or drink. Salvation Army stepped in, after they asked her to prove her situation, and also provided a box of food. Her son has some mental problems that the Department of Public Health and Medicaid are helping with. I don't know what happened to them because they were kicked out for not paying rent on their house. I'm not sure if they got public housing though, since there is a wait list in this city.
I was on pregnancy Medicaid while I was pregnant. I'm not on it anymore. It paid for one ultrasound and my hospital bill. I went to the Health Department for pre-natal check ups.
Some thoughts:
People that are hostile to welfare moms and dads are, in my opinion, cruel. They want boys with heart conditions to die and families to go hungry. *Most* church communities aren't large or rich enough to pay a million dollars a year in medical expenses for one person. (and one heart transplant can cost that much, especially if you need to be airlifted somewhere) In fact, many churches just struggle to keep their own doors own, much less help other families pay rent.
Biblical thoughts:
The Bible prompts love and caring for poor. When you pay taxes and the poor are helped, you not only help Christians in your community, but people of all faiths in many communities.
Whew! Those are my thoughts on the subject. And, as I've said before, I believe people on government programs need to be working if they can. Of course some won't be able to, like the children/elderly and those with disabilities that benefit from the programs.
I think it's beneficial as long as it's applied properly. I do think people need to work if they can. What I would really hope for in the future is that any goverment-sponsored welfare program would have a provision for education, because what keeps an awful lot of "welfare moms" in their situation is that they have to work to pay the bills, the rest of their time goes to their kid(s), and they aren't qualified to do anything better than fast food or other minimum wage jobs. When are they going to find time to go back to school so that they can get a better job? And how are they going to pay for it? Minimum wage is not enough for anyone to live on without supplementing it with welfare to some degree, and I think that is the biggest reason people get stuck on welfare for as long as they do.
Wouldn't it be great if instead of handing out food stamps for an indefinite period of time, the government would provide needy people with free schooling so that they can get better jobs, and cover their living expenses so that they can focus on school without getting evicted for not paying their rent? When they're done, they have no reason to be on welfare any more because they'd be qualified for something higher-paying than McDonalds.
No, I haven't done any math and I have no idea how this would compare cost-wise. It may be a silly pipe dream. But at least it would get some people off welfare permanently. Not disabled people or some others that Ash mentioned, obviously, but the people that are capable of working.
Anyway, I think this is a little off topic so I'm done. ;-)
i think that taking care of the poor and disabled is the church's responsibility, not the government's. the church has failed, but so has the government, as evidenced by the thousands of people abusing the system.
For those who are responsible with their welfare assistance, no, I don't think it is wrong for them to get help. Those who continue to have children while not married should not be able to get more and more help. There is nothing wrong with a single mother getting help with an unplanned pregnancy, but those that seem to do it on purpose should not be able to get help. But on the other side of the coin, those children must be thought of more than of disciplining the mother for her short-comings.
I think that any Christian mother who desires to stay home with her children, who sincerely is doing her best to raise them for the Lord, should be able to get assistance, whether single or married. It is nearly always in the best interest of the children for the mother to rear them and be with them as much as possible. A mother simply cannot focus on her children properly if she is working away from the home.
It is also biblical that a mother be a keeper at home and raise her children. If it is legal, she should do whatever it takes to remain there. The children will be grown before she knows it; she only has one chance to raise them right. Unfortunately churches have given their job of providing for the poor to the government, so therefore, people have to go to the government.
Many times, those who are critical of someone on welfare have no problem with someone getting disability or checks for foster care and/or adoption. They use publicly-funded libraries, etc. I am a homeschooling mother, yet I do not complain about my taxes going to the public school system, which my children have no benefit of whatsoever. It's just nice that there are benefits for those who may need them.
I agree with Ash that those who criticize others on welfare are very cruel. We cannot know their individual circumstances.
I think some government programs are good. Like WIC for instance. My brother-in-law's wife was on it when they had their children. THye couldn't afford food so WIC providd them with your basic food like milk, bread and some household products. It is also just for women and children. Unless men are truly disabled they need to get off their backsides and work. Women with children do not have the luxury to do this because they need to take care of their children. The whole food stamps thing is really messed up. Last I checked you can't buy toilet paper but you can buy junk food. Whatever. WIC only has certain kinds of food that is provided to the recipients. Obviously there has to be some kind of government healthcare because the price of healthcare is so high and insurance for some working families is just not affordable.The church cannot cover expensive procedures. My church has maybe 100 people and we are excited that we have an extra $200 dollars this period that we are going to put into a CD. Our church donates to a lot of charities in the area and around the world but we are just too small. However, people abuse and take advantage of the system. My friend and her husband can well afford health insurance but they choose to depend on the state of Mass to cover the cost for her children. The reason they don't take advantage of the husband's company covered insurance is because they don't want to have it taken out of their paycheck. To me, that is stealing from the government and the true poor. I don't understand why the state doesn't look inot personal financial state before they agree to pay their health insurance. I guess that is invading privacy or something. There are way too many abuses of the system such as this one. I don't mind my tax dollars going to an elderly woman who can't afford her heart medication but I do not want it going to a lazy bum living off his girlfriend. I even know a girl who has children so that she can receive more money from the government. In my opinion, she shouldn't even be allowed to keep her children because of this attitude. It is very messed up.
-Zan
I don't really know that much about welfare, but I support the idea of the government providing a basic safety net for us so that if we fall on hard times we won't die in the streets. As a general matter, I favor programs that help people to become self-sufficient if they are able. My limited experience with people on welfare (mainly pro bono clients to whom I and my firm donate free legal services) is that they want to try to get off welfare.
I don't know much about the constitutionality of welfare, but I seem to recall that the Constitution gives Congress the power to spend money for the "general Welfare," a phrase that is open to interpretation. The Constitution also reserves to the states (and the people) powers not given to the Congress. My sense that there are not a lot of court rulings on the constitutionality of welfare because you don't have "standing" to sue automatically just by being a taxpayer. I think the courts view the more appropriate remedy to objections to the welfare system to be through the political and legislative process.
Okay, I HATE the welfare system!!
That is a strong word, but I do. I think it has provided a way to disobey God's Word in caring for orphans and widows and others in affliction by saying "I paid taxes, go get welfare."
Here in our state you cannot receive any money from the government (cash) unless you are full time looking for work. I think that is good as it deters people from taking it and sitting on it.
That said we had to accept Medicaid because otherwise my husband would still be in a mental hospital as we could afford his medication. One of his shots is $1000 a month and he has others besides that.
I do not see food stamps as always a needed thing. They pay way too much usually for a person to eat normally. It is not I am jealous or anthing like that, but I think that if someone is on food stamps there should be classes they are required to take on nutrition etc.
That said, I do not judge others I know for taking food stamps or welfare. I know of 2 cases one of which the family was on it to keep their house, until they got work and schooling done. They are slowly almost off of all assistance now in a a couple year period of time.
Another one- a single mom with children took it and when she finished school went from food stamps/Medicaid to being practically wealthy!! She used it to be able to feed them while she was in school along with child support and now has a job where she works at night and sleeps while children are at school making over $20 an hour.
I could go on, but you know those are the exception to the rule.
So, myself I get told often from well meaning people to take more than Medicaid from the government. but I have decided to trust the Lord. I want to work with my own hands and not be handed food I have to eat with a guilty concience. This is what I believe for me, though and will not say that it is is for everyone as I know there are needs that cannot be met.
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