Welfare Reform

As a U.S. Citizen, I'm sure we all think about welfare reform at one point or another. I've been lucky and never had to use our welfare system, but I've often thought about how we can make it better.

While you're reading the rest of this article, I don't what to give you the impression that I'm against helping those in need. I'm happy to pay my fair share of taxes and to have a portion of those taxes to go towards helping those in need, whether that be welfare, SSI, scholarships, etc.

As I'm sure we all know, some people take advantage of welfare. The more children you have, the more money and food stamps you receive. Some people then slip into a mind set of "why should I go out and get a job, when I get free money from the government." There children are then raised with this way of thinking and they're more likely to continue this cycle when they become adults. Most of us get our values from our parents, so when our parents aren't motived to better themselves, why would there children.

To stop this cycle, I would purpose a welfare system that has a set period of time. Regardless of how many children a welfare family has, they would only be able to be on welfare for 6 years. This would be 6 total years, meaning that they could be on welfare for say 2 years and get off of it, then if they fall into hard times again, get back on and the clock would start from the point they left off and have 4 more years of welfare. I believe that this would help because people on welfare would be motivated to better themselves because they couldn't ride the welfare train through there children's entire childhood. I believe this would also deter them from having lots of children because they would have to be able to afford them on they're on there own. We already have lots of scholarships and grants available to people that can't afford higher education on there own, so we could put a portion of the savings from welfare towards more of these types of programs to help people in hard times better themselves.

When I was younger, I worked in a few different convenience stores. In case you're unaware of what these are, they are usually way over priced stores where people will only purchase a couple of items. While working at these stores, I noticed a pattern. When someone would do there grocery shopping there, they always paid with food stamps. It was also very common to have to ring them up twice, once for there groceries and once for there alcohol and tobacco. You see, they can't legally use food stamps to buy alcohol and tobacco products. So all there cash goes to such purchases. I understand being addicted to such things, I do like alcohol and tobacco myself. However, I do take issue with people being given free money and food stamps and then spending what money they do have on such items.

I would like to purpose that it be illegal to use and/or possess any alcohol or tobacco products while on welfare. Drugs are obviously already illegal, but I would like to have harsher punishments for using and/or possessing illegal drugs while on welfare. Including for all of these situations the possibility of being kicked out of the welfare program and never being allowed back on it. I know that this sounds harsh, however, I believe that these types of restrictions would make those that abuse the welfare system, take it seriously.

I would like to like to restate the fact that there are many people that use the welfare system for what it was intended. People such as these should not be given the same stigma as those that abuse the welfare system. I would also never suggest getting rid of our welfare system, for it helps millions of people get back on there feet and lead prosperous and fulfilling lives.