What would our founding fathers have thought of our current welfair system and the waste of our tax money?

Question

What would our founding fathers have thought of our current welfair system and the waste of our tax money? (Since a large portion of people using it have not contributed to it and therefore it puts undue stress on productive members of our society)

Answer 1

They would be whirling dervishly in their graves, as would the man who started it all -- President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Welfare was NEVER intended to be something that citizens collect forever. The argument about welfare for elderly and disabled people who have a need is bunk. The elderly and the disabled have social security, and if those in the 65-and-older crowd relied solely on the Government to cover their retirement, they only have themselves to blame.

Here's an apt analogy for the current welfare system: A man and woman decided to put out a bird feeder in their back yard. They were overjoyed to see all the birds who flocked to their feeder, but over time more and more birds came around. Soon their back yard was littered with the droppings of the birds, they were having to buy more and more bird food to feed all the birds, and eventually it got to the point where the birds started attacking them when they were bringing the food. So eventually they took the bird feeder down and stopped feeding the birds, and after a while there were no more birds attacking them and their back yard was no longer littered with bird droppings.

There's nothing wrong with giving someone a hand-up, but there's a big problem with giving someone a handout. If welfare were used properly, the people who collect it would be required to go through some type of training so they could develop skills that would enable them to get jobs and support themselves. And once they got jobs, the welfare wouldn't be cut right away -- these people would be slowly weaned off welfare so they could get back on their feet. But when you continue to give money to the "poor" and expect nothing in return, you get lazy "poor" people who expect and DEMAND that welfare check. How many times have you heard welfare recipients saying "YOU OWE ME"?

Answer 2

I think for a start that they would seek perspective -- they would look at the total dollars spent on welfare and would see that welfare is a very small piece of overall government spending. The two largest welfare programs, AFDC and food stamps, each take up less than 1 percent of government budgets. You could inflate this number by including programs like Medicaid and student loans.

Upon further investigation they would conclude that there are good and bad aspects to the system and work toward its improvement.

Answer 3

Illegals were not yet a problem during the early days of USA unlike nowadays that welfare is already taking much of the taxes being paid by the citizens.

Answer 4

Personally I think they would roll over in their graves if they had even a slight glimpse of what this welfare system has become.The welfare system is so screwed up its disgusting.

Answer 5

I think they'd be flipping their wigs. And not only because of the welfare system but all the different ways our Constitution has been abused.

Answer 6

Remember the WPA? I think that if able Americans are receiving welfare, they should have to work for it, e.g., street cleaning, public landscaping, etc...

Answer 7

at this point they would say, "Vote Ron Paul!" He'll take care of wasted tax dollars and the income tax altogether (which goes to welfare)

Answer 8

They would have put them to use in the tobacco fields. As fertilizer.

Answer 9

What about people who are on welfare because they need to be? like disabled people and old people? They might die without welfare help...

Answer 10

How do you come to your conclusion? The imaginary 'welfare queen' or are you referring to the corporate welfare system? Seems to me you are wagging your finger at the wrong group.