What, if anything, do you think the government should provide to those . . .?

Question

who cannot (or will not) provide for themselves?

Food? Housing? Health care? Income? An education? A job?

And WHICH people should it provide for? Adults? Children? the elderly? Veterans? Citizens, only, or also legal residents? Or anyone within its borders?

Answer 1

I can't believe I'm about to say something good about Communism, but one thing they mandated was that everyone had to work, unless they were completely unable. Granted, some of those jobs were little more than standing around doing next to nothing, but at least it kept people from laying around their home all day feeling incapable of holding a job.

When Newt Gingrich and the Republicans made the massive welfare reforms, they weaned millions of people off welfare, people who were perfectly capable of working. So instead of being a drain on the economy, they were a benefit. They worked and paid taxes.

If someone is capable of working, they should only get temporary assistance until they can reasonably be expected to get a job. It may not be their dream job, it may be less than they want, but they can't burden society unnecessarily.

If women have out-of-wedlock births, they should not rely on the government, they should be working with their family, friends, church, and private charitible institutions.

There are so many private charitibel institutions in the U.S. that no one ever needs to go hungry. Veterans should get a lot more consideration than they do now, especially wounded ones. Injured Vets sacrificed a great deal for everyone, so they should be ensured a comfortable life should they run into financial hard times.

Legal residents pay taxes so they should enjoy things like health care benefits.

Illegal aliens not only should be denied health care and other services, they should be deported when identified. It is their choice to break the law. They should not profit from it. I can guarantee you that Benjamin Franklin would concur on this. He once made a comment about charity towards the poor, and he warned about making the poor too comfortable in their idleness. He meant that, if you are getting a free ride, you won't have the initiative to try harder to succeed on your own.

Food can be provided best by private charitable organizations. The government would be terribly wasteful.

Complete health care should be given to injured vets. Everyone else should purchase it on their own, keeping in mind they now get a tax credit for doing so.

There are already many grants and student loans for education. Making University classes free only encourages staggeringly unqualified students from flooding into these classes and greatly diminishing the academic standards. I went to University with people who absolutely no right to be there. They were just a waste of space. Flunking out was inevitable for them. They hadn't prepared for it, and didn't put forth enough effort.

The government is not an employment agency. You are on your own.

Answer 2

Ideally, the US government should provide nothing but security to anyone. However, as we seem to be sliding down the slippery slope to socialism and since the media and everyone else seems insistant that they are entitled to free stuff just because they breath our air, I doubt that we will ever be able to get to that ideal.

So, in the socialist society that we live in, I do not have too much problem with publicly funded education for those here legally; Food stamps (greatly reduced) for citizens who are employed and disabled veterans; and health care only for those who served in the military.

Everyone else can get a job and pay for themselves or move to Europe and get on the dole.

*Edit*
Eve - If Canada's and Denmark's social programs are so good for the country explain why the average welfare recipient in the US is more likely to have a car, a TV, a phone, has more square footage, and eats more meat than the average RESIDENT of either country.

Tangerine - That is the excuse of the lazy. If she seriously wants to become a nurse your aunt will take night classes. And if you truly care about her you will help watch her kids while she does it so she won't have to pay as much for child care.

Answer 3

Living in the global community means having to pay to play. As Americans, it's rather unsettling to realize that we have such grave disparities between our educational institutions in the public domain. Some children go to school everyday solely for the free or discounted lunches that are available.
We degrade the illegals in this country and complain about their constant drain on our pocketbooks, but we never look at the flipside to their presence in the United States. If an apple were picked by unionized Anglo citizens, we'd pay as much for a gallon of apple juice as we do to fill the tanks of our cars. Your next stay at the Hampton Inn, Hilton, Radisson, etc., would cost a great deal more if these companies had to pay the wages to its "cleaning staff" that Americans have come to expect for other low-level jobs that require no specific education. The argument is that Americans are losing good jobs to illegal and recently naturlized citizens; I don't see those at the unemployment line flying to the landscaping company to work twelve hours a day for the meager wages most individuals earn. The solution for being able to take care of those that take care of us or will one day take care of us?
1) Get rid of fancy sounding initiatives that are just assinine to begin with: No Child Left Behind is a shell of a program that preaches accountability; however, a school district in Oakland, California; Willingboro, New Jersey; Harlem, New York cannot compete with the upper echelon districts that have a higher per student budget than those lower-income areas.
2) Stop worrying about offending people. Illegals, as I mentioned before do perform a great service; however, we need to start calling the illegal immigration movement in this country for what it is, a mockery of rules and regulations. If you're illegal, you leave. If you have a child in our borders and you're an illegal, your child is STILL an illegal. The last time I checked, the womb was not like our vast oceanic system, there is not such thing as international wombs the way we have international waters.
3) Start taking care of your neighbors and those people around you. "It takes a village" shouldn't be some hackneyed cliche that we use to talk about raising children. The "Not In My Backyard" sentimentality that we hold as Americans is very unbecoming of a nation that heralds itself as the worlds protector.

Answer 4

Nothing for adults. Education for children. Legal residents only. And if a kids parents aren't paying for their food, housing, and healthcare, then take the kids away and give them to a family who will. Veterans should get benefits, but those are earned, not given.

Answer 5

Depends on how much of a Socialist you are. There are those who believe that everyone has the right to share equally all the benefits of this country and that there are some things we shouldn't have to pay for. Housing, food, health care, education and basic necessities to use a broad term are the things required by all and should therefore be free. To some extent I agree, however it is also true that those things we come by to easily are taken to lightly and easily become corrupted. Work should always be a requirement for the things we need and want, but it should not be a mandate. No one on this planet is better, than anyone else, better off perhaps, and in some way superior in intellect (i.e. we are all ignorant of some topics and have a degree of excellence in others.) physical prowess or opportunity. However no one has the right to make others suffer for their own comforts.

Answer 6

I think there are always individual differences when it comes to meeting the needs of those who are unable to provide for themselves. Also, even though the government has done a lot to help those who are less fortunate, its regulations do a lot of harm, as well. I'll give you an example. My aunt, who has two sons, ages 11 and 8, is about to divorce her cheating husband. Instead of working, she has been going to school to become a nurse. Since she hasn't been working and has been financially dependent on her husband, she doesn't have any source of income. She has applied for public housing and for food stamps. However, when she applied for food stamps, she was told that she was going to have to look for work. Mind you, I realize that this regulation is meant to keep people from abusing the system. However, how is my aunt supposed to provide a better life for herself and her sons if she is forced to give up trying to become a nurse and instead take a dead-end job that wouldn't pay nearly as much as a nurse's job would and would probably not be enough to support her and the kids? While certain programs may help a lot, they can do a lot of harm, as well.

Answer 7

Let me ask you this: What do you think 100 BILLION (the cost of this war so far) could have done for the American People? 52 states right? Almost 2 BILLION per state.

I met a woman this summer who lived in Denmark. They have dentists in the SCHOOLS who work on the children's teeth. IN SCHOOLS!!! Every child is looked after, braces too if needed, until they graduate. Same with medical. I thought it was hilarious when she registered in Canada and said to her daughter's school secretary..."I'd like to talk to your dentist please..." Boy did they have a good chuckle.

And the 'greatest country' in the world can't find a solution for their people? Come on...wouldn't you say you have a big problem with your government? The left, the right, and the middle too?

In Canada everyone is entitled to basic health care. Emergency care, once a year check ups, essential surgeries, childbirth, special screenings, tests, and xrays etc. Insurance will get you private or semiprivate rooms for your hosptial stays, pay for some things that aren't covered, but not even everything. But basic health and dental are covered up to regulated fees.

EVERYONE should be entitled to basic health care.

Exactly TANGERINE...social programs are important too..if you want crime to stop (or if you just have human compassion) you will try to help the less fortunate.

How can you be a Christian and NOT?

Did Jesus not say, when you help the least of these, you do it for me?

Very well said CHRIS...it's nice to actually hear from an American who sees things for what they are and are not afraid to say so and to look BEYOND that at finding a SOLUTION.

Do you not have SCHOOL BOARDS that fund all schools equally? Basically there is a COST PER CHILD formula and that is how schools are funded.

What's this business of FREE FOOD in schools? That is insane and a waste of money and totally not fair. Schools aren't there to feed the hungry. That's what missionaries and food banks are for.

Answer 8

Who cannot provide for themselves? Yes.

Who will not provide for themselves? NO.

If you are an able-bodied individual, you should be able to work a 40 hour week and earn your way and not be sucking on the welfare titty, like so many people do.

Welfare babies sitting at home with a cheap car with 3,000 bucks worth of rims and a plasma TV, but not working is ridiculous. I say gather those people on welfare that can work and put them in the fields to pick lettuce and tomatoes and get rid of the illegal immigrants.

You want welfare? Work for it!

Answer 9

First if should only should be for US citizens. Most immigrants have to sign documents stating they have the means to support themselves for the first five years or so.
Who of the Us citizens to help is a another dilemma. Where does help start and where does dependency start. In my city we have the children in the influentially neighborhoods getting free lunches to the tune of 90%. So there will always be those who will take advangate

Answer 10

Can not and will not are two different sides of the coin.

"Can not"'s should be provided for, as a compassionate society takes care of those who are unable.

"Will not"'s are owed only an opportunity, nothing else.