Bastiat wrote:
I was saying that welfare is what has created a class that subsists on the "poverty" line. There was always a social safety net, until the government destroyed it with the New Deal and Great Society programs. People used to turn to private charities, the churches, friends and family, etc. They only did this when they absolutely had to and there was no abusing this net because the aid was voluntarily given and could be denied to those who didn't deserve it. Bad decisions were discouraged this way. The newspapers used to run articles about the neediest people in the city, but distinguished between the deserving and the undeserving. A widow with kids whose husband died fighting a fire was deserving. An unwed mother was not. The latter still recieved aid, but scorn for her bad mistakes (which discouraged others from doing the same).
But the government replaced all of this with welfare lines. Now you see unwed mothers demanding money from bureaucrats handing out other peoples' money. This government interference has made "Dad" expendable and resulted in single parent households. Without a positive male role-model, there is a strong chance for these kids to make wrong decisions. Welfare has created a vicious cycle of poverty.
I should have elaborated on the contribute part. In order to make a lot of money, you have to have a comparative advantage over other workers in satisfying the needs of society. Janitors and grave diggers contribute to society and their job is hard work, but just about anyone can do those jobs. Surgeons are rich because there aren't that many people who can perform surgery, etc. These people are poor because they haven't invested in any building any skills or advantages over others in the labor market.
Diversity is not an end in itself. 19th century London had little diversity and neither does today's Tokyo or Shanghai. Freedom of association is what is key. Forcing people to mix together is just as bad in principle as forced segregation.
This is so misinformed, I don't know where to start. Frankly, I'm not sure where you get your information, but you might want to check your facts. Welfare created no 'poverty line', the poverty line was largely non-existant because it wasn't researched at the time. But if you go back and look at wage earnings, combined with cost of living at the time, poverty was rampant before the New Deal.
The New Deal was a blessing for this country.
Our responsibility (and in this country WE are the government) is to the community. You help those less fortunate than yourself. There are tons of people who need the help, and there are cases of abuse...but that will always be the case. Regardless of the program, there are those who seek to abuse it. That doesn't mean that you disarm it, or do away with it. You try to make it better and more efficient.
And Welfare, as we know it, isn't just giving poor mothers with kids some money to pay the bills. Welfare is Social Security, College Grants, etc.
You can live in the past and dream of a world that was great before the New Deal if you want. But that world didn't exist. Things weren't hunky dory before the New Deal. The New Deal made it possible for many to play on a more even field than ever before.
