Progressive Perspective On Social Welfare

After non-violent protests of the civil rights struggles during the 1950's and 1960's came civil rights legislation at the Federal level. The right to vote, the right to equal opportunity, and the right to equal wages were all worthy and moral objectives. Soon, then President Lyndon Johnson, launched an initive to create

A "Great Society". Also at this time America was bogged down in a conflict of choice in South East Asia against the North Vietnamese communist government. Both the war on poverty and the war in Vietnam were total failures. That "War" against poverty had disastrous unforeseen consequences that endure to the present day.

The purpose was noble; government assistance to mothers and young children abandoned by their husbands and/or fathesr of their children. In theory this would provide just the opportunity these children would need to succeed and hopefully prosper. Such an investment in human "capital" of healthy children motivated by the promise of the American Dream would surely pay social dividends.

The generations that followed  the civil rights movement weren't alive to appreciate the fight their grandparents endured to gain the above mentioned opportunities and benefits. Many corrupted  the system and viewed this assistance as an entitlement and not an opportunity. This is the government program that gained the social moniker of  "welfare". Any incentive to rise above their impoverished situation for the most part never materialized, and as it is formulated, never will. Poor, young, and impoverished women soon learned that they could avoid gainful employment and parental responsibility by getting pregnant and having babies. Their children paid the price.

Later in the 1990's came "welfare to work", another government program, this time designed to ween these mothers off welfare and into the workforce. Too many women again figured out a way to game the system. Now just raising children in poverty wasn't enough to continue to avoid participation in America; they had to stay pregnant. Broods of children were being born and raised in the poorest of conditions and government intervention remains their only means of support.

Raising children in poverty is difficult, but giving birth every 15 to 18 months and providing the support necessary for personal, social, and educational growth to every child becomes nearly impossible. Here is an even darker story. Without the needed parental guidance too many of these children end up in prisons where they are now "cared for" by the prison system. These kids never stand a chance. This reliance on welfare is not too very far from the hideousness of slavery itself. This breeding should be ended by removing the"incentive" for such behavior.

Some ideas for putting an end to this travesty will be addressed in further posts.

Let's hear your thoughts and comments.