Public Assistance, Thinking Outside The Box
I'm certainly opposed to cutting welfare programs that help the disabled and families with children who fall into circumstances where they would not be able to support their families, such as unemployment. I opposed the so-called "Welfare Reform Act" signed by President Clinton because it was too draconian. Under the act, too many people are being required to enter minimum wage jobs, rather than being encouraged to get an education so that they can enter good careers where they can make decent salaries. The taxes that those people would subsequently pay would more than offset what they were paid in welfare payments, if they were given more support to go to college and learn more so that they can enter good professions. Besides, I believe that a college education should be free for everyone anyway provided that people do some kind of service for our country, such as working with poor people, helping preserve our environment or some other kind of service.
However, I am opposed to giving welfare to people who choose to keep having one child after the other when they don't have the means to support them. Recently, I went to the Dept. of Human Services with a friend of mine who is BTW single with no children. She was applying for CMSP which is like Medi-Cal, because of a particular ailment that she needs treated. It's very difficult for childless single people who are poor but not considered poor enough by the system to get these benefits. Of course, what we really need is a Single Payer health care system. Anyway when I was there, I noticed a woman who was pregnant in the waiting room. There was a man with her, and every other word that came out of that man's mouth was a swear word. It is a total waste of money to be giving these people welfare. I'm sure that is one of the reasons why we have gangs and that there's so much juvenile delinquency. By doing this at the same time that we make it difficult for poor single people without children who need certain benefits, we're actually encouraging people to have more children. Our government needs to do a much better job of educating people about both birth control and abstinence. Our youngsters must be taught this in the schools, and these courses must be mandatory. No notes from the parents excusing the students from these courses! Also, there ought to be birth control pills for men to take. What to do with the children who are now being raised by incompetent parents? See my blog, "Making Decent Homes For Our Youth," posted on February 22nd.