Turtle: there's a few areas where your explanation/interpretation is quite different from what I've learned & observed, but I'd just like to address one [for now, lol]: the notion that giving people assistance makes them dependent upon the government, or serves as a disincentive to earn a living.
It probably would, IF the government gave enough money on which to live even a very modest life, but that's not the case. What benefits are allowed are nowhere near enough to cover rent [sure, there's subsidized housing, and the waiting lists are years long], food, [many studies have proven that food stamps don't cover adequate nutrition, even when the purchaser is a learned professional, much less the average person doing the purchasing], and the other benefits [like utilities] are replete with lengthy applications and verification requirements. Medical care: ever been to a low income clinic? I have, [in nursing school], and they're not pleasant. People wait weeks [sometimes months] for an appointment, then all day, in an overcrowded room for the doctor, who will maybe issue a prescription that requires waiting all the next day to get filled at one of the few places that accepts them. People don't, contrary to some opinions, just ask for money and receive it. Another misconception is the belief that people don't mind being on welfare -there's a few who know nothing else, but for those who had a job, [or still do, at WalMart or McDonald's] using a welfare card is accompanied by shame and humiliation. It's not what they want out of life, but the options get more limited every year. Go back to school? Yeah, right. Because tuition is pretty affordable these days, uh huh. Or they could just move to Wyoming, there's good paying jobs in the oil industry - unless you happen to be a single mother, of course.
I forget who said it, and I'm paraphrasing, but: it's real easy to make negative assumptions about the 'less fortunate' when you are not one of them yourself, and never have been.
It probably would, IF the government gave enough money on which to live even a very modest life, but that's not the case. What benefits are allowed are nowhere near enough to cover rent [sure, there's subsidized housing, and the waiting lists are years long], food, [many studies have proven that food stamps don't cover adequate nutrition, even when the purchaser is a learned professional, much less the average person doing the purchasing], and the other benefits [like utilities] are replete with lengthy applications and verification requirements. Medical care: ever been to a low income clinic? I have, [in nursing school], and they're not pleasant. People wait weeks [sometimes months] for an appointment, then all day, in an overcrowded room for the doctor, who will maybe issue a prescription that requires waiting all the next day to get filled at one of the few places that accepts them. People don't, contrary to some opinions, just ask for money and receive it. Another misconception is the belief that people don't mind being on welfare -there's a few who know nothing else, but for those who had a job, [or still do, at WalMart or McDonald's] using a welfare card is accompanied by shame and humiliation. It's not what they want out of life, but the options get more limited every year. Go back to school? Yeah, right. Because tuition is pretty affordable these days, uh huh. Or they could just move to Wyoming, there's good paying jobs in the oil industry - unless you happen to be a single mother, of course.
I forget who said it, and I'm paraphrasing, but: it's real easy to make negative assumptions about the 'less fortunate' when you are not one of them yourself, and never have been.
