welfare???

Question

is welfare a "right" or a privilege"?

Answer 1

Welfare is a social safety net their when a fellow American takes a risk or falls down and "We the People" help them up. but some would have you believe that most abuse it.

Answer 2

Welfare is designed to help people through a rough time until they can get back on their feet. So, it is a privilege that is only to be used as a safety net. It was never designed to be a right of people to obtain.

Yes, there are people who will figure out every loophole imaginable so they don't have to get a job, but programs like Michigan's current welfare system are pretty well designed. Here in Michigan, we have a lifetime maximum of 5 years. So if you don't want to work and are able to work, better go to a different state that has no limits.

Admittedly, it's not just a case where people on welfare just don't want to work. Yes, some are that way, but many others cannot work due to various factors. Things like: lack of affordable child care (try paying $2 an hour per child for 3 kids on an $8 per hour job), caring for a sick child, returning to school, lack of transportation (ever tried to find a job in a community of less than 5000 people with no public transportation to a larger city), health or mental problems (would you hire a person with tourettes), criminal backgrounds, lack of education, learning disability (try to find work with dyslexia).

So, I'm glad it's there for people who truly need it to get through a difficult time.

Answer 3

It's neither!

I think it's time we change welfare laws and big time. I've seen firsthand many people in my community that are legally scamming the welfare system. They don't work, and have no intention of doing so. Why should they when the government pays for their food, housing, etc, and even get more money everytime they have another kid. Then they teach their kids that same thinking of "collecting their checks"

I taught a 12 yr old boy last year who was failing in school. I asked him: What do you want to do when you grow up?" After hemming and hawing around he answered, "I'm gonna sit back and collect my checks."

How infuriating!! Our hard earned tax money is going to support laziness like this. Who needs to work when the govt will pay your way?

When people try to get any kind of job, even working for minimum wage, the gov't abruptly takes all their support away, and theyre left with less money than what the govt was paying them in the first place. This promotes people just quitting their jobs and families staying on welfare for generations. Some people stay on welfare by saying they're "disabled" - like they have a bad back - I know someone who has this "disability" but they can play a heavy bass guitar, and lift their amplifier to every gig, and get paid cash under the table almost every weekend.at every gig.

I know another guy who's "disabled" but he DJ's for cash on the weekends and is working on several other cash paying projects while at the same time he's getting his house and food free for many years.

I believe only seriously disabled people should be able get welfare for a long time. Anyone else who needs welfare should be gradually tapered off of it for 1 - 2 years. If you don't try to better yourself, by getting an education, or at least trying to get some sort of a job, you will eventually be cut off. Government should pay for childcare expenses to help the person get an education and better themselves if that is an issue. If you're not making any progress or improvements in your life, then you should get nothing at the end of the 2 years and be totally cut off from support. That way this will make lazy people think about getting of their rear ends to work like the rest of us do.

Answer 4

Welfare was an idea born out of the Depression when it was truly needed. It is something that can't be easily stopped once it is started.

Unfortunately, those who are truly in need are overshadowed by those that use it as their life support, rather than a hand up or a start. To them it is permanent, not a temporary thing as it is meant to be.

Answer 5

my answer would be neither. welfare is a great evil that was invented with a good cause. Unfortunatly, the primary purpose or effect of welfare today is to keep people locked in the cycle of poverty. When it was first developed, it was to help people out in the short term while they got on thier feet. it was never intended to be a long term solution or a problem creator. Today, and mind you this is just my opinion, it is a social evil that makes people take the route of least resistance. I do not always blame the people on the take, but if someone walked up to you and offered you money to do nothing, who would not take it. I think the best service to people on welfare would be to encorage or force them to use it for the purpose it was intended - SHORT TERM. Instead we encorage people to have children out of wedlock, not support them, not to rely on thier family as was done in the past. So we have generations of children who think that they are owed something but society - I firmly believe that WE owe society - not the other way around.

Answer 6

Neither. Its a hand out social program for degenerates. It is a program that was designed with the best of intentions but has been throughoughly abused. Welfare should be limited to a very very short time.

Some states have tried to enact "workfare". Basically, they work for their welfare payments. No work, no check. I thought this was a noble idea but the liberals shoot it down everytime. Apparently welfare recipients are above sweeping and claening. Watching Oprah is far more productive....

Answer 7

It is a right, and should be available to every citizen in a moment of need