This is my last post for the week and I’m a little tired. I’m tired of making the same old arguments over and over, although I’m sure I’ll have renewed energy on Monday to get back into the swim.
Today, however, I’m looking forward to driving to South Bend with my youngest son to watch 8-0 Notre Dame.
I’m lucky to have healthy boys, a great job, and weekends like this are my bliss. I work hard and I’m rewarded for it, but, there have been times in my life when I’ve needed help and that’s what I’d like to write about now.
It isn’t rare to read, or hear, someone accuse the government (which always seems to be a “liberal” government, whether the attack is on the current administration or a general slam against “government”) of creating a “Nanny State” or a dependence on welfare.
What is used a lot is a statistic that tells us that nearly half of America doesn’t pay taxes (“47%” is Romney’s percentage for everything, from freeloading Americans to the number of registered Democrats, and for how much of his day he spends at charity function photo-ops).
The deduction that conservatives are making from this is that it’s an indication of the failure of welfare programs and that the number is high because people don’t want to work (because they don’t have to).
The assumption is so easily made and the concept so simple to grasp (free money = no work) that it’s barely challenged anymore, allowing it to become a cornerstone of modern conservative rhetoric.
The trouble is…it isn’t even close to true.
The relevant deduction from a staggering number like 47% who don’t pay taxes is the fact that they don’t make enough to pay taxes or that they are unemployed.
It isn’t an indication of lack of desire to work, or that nanny-lust has taken hold of their inherent laziness, it is proof, in fact, that the balance of opportunity in America is out of whack.
Most working Americans have at some time or another taken some form of welfare, if just a temporary unemployment check and most American’s who receive welfare, go back into the work force.
Most Americans would rather work than not- and the kicker is that the general welfare budget (excluding Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) is only 1% of the federal budget and only a fraction of those who receive welfare are the ones abusing the system. Whereas welfare critics imply that everyone is abusing the system.
Here’s a macro view: According to UNICEF, nations with strong social welfare programs report a smaller percentage of population living in poverty. In 2005 the percentage of children living in poverty was: Denmark, 2.4%; France, 7.5%, Norway, 13.4%; Canada, 14.9%; United Kingdom, 15.4%; United States, 21.9%, all nations with extensive welfare systems (and the other nations ranking higher than the US have forms of socialized medicine).
Coincidentally, the nations at the top of this list are also considered the “happiest.”
Furthermore, among all households receiving food stamps, almost twice as many include at least one working adult as those that don’t, so in other words, receipt of this type of welfare does not discourage work- it simply supplements a wage that is inadequate to provide the essentials of living.
And according to the Food Research and Action Center, only 56% of people eligible for food stamps nationwide actually claim the benefits they are eligible for.
And the micro view? Millions of individuals are out of work through no fault of their own and hanging on solely by virtue of a social service safety net.
Welfare has existed since the Roman Empire to provide sustenance to those who ultimately provide sustenance to the ruling class and while we prefer to look away from our own socio-political shortcomings and pretend that there is no “Power Elite” in America, failures are a bi-product of a Capitalist machine that creates its own exhaust. But the micro-reality reveals that the “exhaust” has a family and carries the dignity of human life.
We are not a Third World country; we don’t step over our dead in the streets; we have the opportunity and the privilege of helping one another. When you look at the real numbers and not the rhetoric, we are paying a small price to protect ourselves and our neighbors.
Now…off to enjoy the weekend.
