It’s time to weed out
the truly needy from the simply “wanting”
You can’t question any benefits or entitlements programs – or God
forbid suggest cuts in any of those -- without being accused of trying to
snatch food from the mouths of infants; issuing a death sentence to the poor,
the elderly and the disabled; and being devoid of any humanity.
You’d think someone was planning to turn people into pet
food. And drown baskets of puppies and
kittens at the same time.
The truth is, sometimes we may be providing very expensive
help to some people – certainly not all – who don’t really need that help to
survive and get back on their feet.
We’re making those people more comfortable, but it that
really the mission here?
Do the people who really need help get assistance
through government programs?
Certainly. But do a lot of other
folks fairly well off get an unneeded benefit too? Why yes they do.
A lot of government programs designed to help the needy
fulfill what they were supposed to do:
help those who couldn’t get by without them.
But far too many times they also provide assistance to those
who could easily get by without them; folks who use these benefits to avoid
having to forego stuff they just want but don’t need. We are trying to satisfy needs – like basic
food and shelter – but end up subsidizing wants.
Don’t want to be insensitive here, but does someone on food
stamps really “need” a $41 birthday cake for their kid? Does someone who supposedly needs help to
provide for their family “need” a big-screen LCD TV, or the latest Air Jordans,
or Ralph Lauren clothes for their toddler?
Or high-def cable TV service plus broadband in their house?
Face facts, everyone.
This is not to whip up on the poor, but this is going on all the
time. You’ve probably seen it
yourself.
No one is saying that people on public assistance should be
living in hovels with no heat, electricity, or indoor plumbing, while their
starving kids wander barefoot clothed in tattered rags.
Then again, no one wants to see their taxes going to support
people who are clearly not impoverished – or at least appear to have a pretty
solid middle-class lifestyle – bragging about how they are doing well working
off the books while collecting government benefits. Or how they are beating the system. Or not working at all when they could.
It’s obvious that a lot of people are using government benefits in place of
their own money to buy the things they want, while government bucks cover a lot
of what they need.
It’s the unintended consequence of building a system of
subsidies that almost anyone can get, so why not? If they are in an area where food stamps,
welfare, and all the other government support programs are the main sources of
income – which is becoming more common – it’s an acceptable way of life. Just business as usual.
Congress seems intent on expanding these benefits even more,
to a broader range of people, and to make them even easier – and less
restrictive – to qualify for. There
appears to be no end to giving away free stuff to appease voters of almost all
income levels, and to make getting these handouts somehow “normal.”
Maybe that’s why almost 46 million Americans and almost 22
million U.S. households receive food stamps – or as it’s now euphemistically
called, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; SNAP for short. (The acronym seems quite appropriate.)
To preserve the “dignity” of those using food stamps, for example, government
even dispensed with the stamps themselves and replaced those with a Visa-like
debit card.
So that well-dressed shopper ahead of you at checkout buying
the rib-eye steaks before driving off in their late-model SUV may be using
their SNAP card, not Visa.
It’s human nature for some people – not all, of course – to
take advantage of any situation. And if
you’re giving away free money with limited restrictions, most people will take
it. Our government proved that with the
“Cash for Clunkers” program. (Hence the
SUV.)
Unfortunately, In our current financial straits, we can’t
afford to be so loosey-goosey about handing out freebies anymore. There aren’t enough tax dollars to cover everybody’s
“wants,” but probably plenty to cover the truly needy. We need to focus.
Government needs to suck it up and do a better job of
separating those who truly need our assistance to survive and become productive
from those who simply want more free stuff to live a more comfortable
life.
Being on public assistance is not supposed to be comfortable. Otherwise there’s no reason to get off
it. If you make it more attractive to
stay there – by providing free everything – no one will ever rationally decide
to change. People will find ways to live
that lifestyle for generations, as some do now, until they are forced to leave
it. People will be born into it, live in
it, and die in it.
No one on public assistance should be made content with
their lot. They shouldn’t be made to be
miserable either – that would be cruel.
But they should always be thinking they could do better and have more if
they did something else besides being on the dole.
The exception is the truly disabled. They should get all the help we can provide;
provided that they are truly disabled – not simply conveniently disabled that
prevents them from working but permits them to go golfing, bowling, mountain climbing, snow skiing, etc.
Having tennis elbow, or a blister on your butt, or an
ingrown toenail does not qualify as truly disabled. You may be able to wangle a handicap tag for
your rearview mirror – a tag you’ll keep and use forever, long after your
malady is gone – but you aren’t really disabled. (And don’t think all of us who watch you park
in the handicap spots, only to see you sprint to the front door of wherever you’re
going with nary a care, aren’t aware of what you’re doing, you weasel.)
Prying the not-so-needy and the fakers from the truly needy
is going to be a tough task. There will be pain as people adjust from getting a
predictable monthly “bonus” from the government to relying on more of their own
money. Not mortal pain, nor a plunge
into destitution, but there will be an impact on those who’ve built a lifestyle
on other people’s money.
In this society, practically everybody claims to be a “victim” of one thing or
another – this will just be more fuel on that fire. The media will be all over this, like white
on rice, showing how cruel and heartless we are as a nation; they’ll trot out
the clips of the exceptions unintentionally or mistakenly affected and present
these as the norm. It will be
heart-wrenching theater.
Then there will be the usual attacks from the people
receiving these benefits, and the politicians they are tethered to, to preserve
the status quo or even increase the goodies.
No one will want to give up anything.
It’s going to take some really big brass ones to be the
politician that says enough is enough.
Critics will claim the cuts will attack the dignity and
self-respect of the downtrodden, hitting them when they are down, and punishing
everybody for the actions of a few.
But it’s not really a few.
It’s millions upon millions of people, on whom we are squandering
billions of dollars every year – not to help them survive, but simply to be
more “comfortable.”
That’s not our job.
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