Monday, November 11, 1996
WELFARE:
Federal aid doesn’t hurt rich, but poor who work hard to support
their familiesBy Brian Choate
"It (Government) does not keep the country free. It does not
settle the west. It does not educate. The character inherent in the
American people has done all that has been accomplished, and it
would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes
got in its way."
 Henry David Thoreau
The man’s dark eyes were hollow and creased with fatigue. They
stared at an old black and white television. His hands tediously
kneaded the dough as if it were hardening plaster. His movements
were methodical and machine-like. It was his routine. You could
tell he didn’t like it, but he completed his task with a
determination that is only found in men with wills of iron. This
will was driving him to overcome his monotonous tasks day in and
day out.
"How does he do it?" I asked myself. "How in the world does he
make pizzas for 12 hours a day?"
"You gotta respect this guy," I said to my friend in a absolute,
yet uncertain, manner.
"Of course, he’s got the best pizza in town and it’s cheap. You
have to love this guy."
"That’s exactly it!" I exclaimed. I lost myself in thought for a
moment, a very brief moment, and continued. "This guy is doing
something he obviously doesn’t like, and he’s doing a great job
regardless. He’s here whether it’s noon or midnight. He’s always
back there looking at his TV and making pizzas. He’s just working
hard because that’s the right thing to do. He’s doin’ what he has
to to put the food on the table for his family, even though he
doesn’t like it. That’s honorable. That’s the American way. I mean,
nowadays most people in his situation would probably be on welfare
or something."
That is when it hit me.
For years I disagreed with social programs, except in cases of
disability or illness, but accepted them as an inevitable, not
necessarily correct, part of our society. I always believed that
they undermined the American values of overcoming adversity,
working diligently, and making honorable sacrifices in order to
accomplish what is just and right. But, I figured that it only
affected a small segment of our population, and was not a real
threat to the structure of our society and values.
This apathy was torn from my body in an instant. My mind began
to race as it only can when threatened or panicked. Thought after
thought seemed to fly before my eyes until I was finally able to
add some coherency to the confusion. Â welfare doesn’t screw
the rich. Welfare doesn’t screw the middle class. Welfare screws
every hardworking American, but in particular its screwin’ the
pizza guy  the American who gets up and goes to work despite
extremely long hours, grueling work and low pay, because he feels
it is his responsibility to his family. The American who works
because he believes in it, and would never dream of getting
something for nothing. The diligent American built upon the
principles of character, integrity and honor. Why should he bust
his butt for $16,000 a year so that he can feed his family, while a
welfare vacuum can sit on his lazy butt and pull in the same amount
for his two kids? This is just plain wrong.
Even when the programs were first introduced, a time when
lawyers had to suffice to selling apples on the streets to make
ends meet, they had to be severely altered because people would not
take money for free from the government. Programs like CCC, the
Civilian Conservation Corps., had to be created so that money could
be distributed to the needy families. Americans would not take
money for free, so the CCC created token jobs to assuage the guilt
of the American citizens who were too proud to accept handouts.
AFDC, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, was created to
distribute money to families whose father had run away, or, in
extreme cases, committed suicide, because they were so devastated
that they had failed in their responsibilities to their
families.
They were extreme programs forged under extreme circumstances.
These programs were never intended to continue in the distant
futures and definitely were not intended to distribute money to
many of the people who are now receiving these benefits.
Ironically, these programs, shaped and influenced by the values
inherent to the hardworking American, served to undermine and
destroy these values. How do these programs undermine American
values? The answer is simple.
Our government is rooted in the principle that it is "of the
people, by the people, for the people." The very essence of its
existence is based on the principle that the rights of all
Americans, majority or minority, black or white, Democrat or
Republican, will be preserved by legitimate and just laws that are
governed by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Therefore, a
vast majority of Americans assume that the policies and laws that
govern our land are legitimate and reflect the common values
inherent to Americans. Hence, we see no distinct line drawn between
the written law of the state and our own moral convictions. They
are perceived as one in the same, and are thrown together into a
type of pizza supreme, if you will, where the pepperoni is
indistinguishable from the tomatoes, and the olives look like the
sausages.
It looks so delicious that your mouth starts watering, and the
first couple bites are absolute heaven. But, as you eat each slice
the pizza becomes progressively less delicious, and soon you find
that your gluttony leaves you feeling fat, lazy, and sick.
The question of whether or not the government should be cooking
this pizza is an essay in itself. The bottom line is that while in
present day America the government might not be the chef, it is
definitely providing the ingredients. In the case of welfare
programs, the ingredients are food stamps, pay checks, health care,
and the like. A great many honorable Americans choose to look
towards themselves for the ingredients, and labor to make their own
pizza, but many people are now choosing to take the easy way out
and take the ingredients from the government, because they feel
that this is morally and socially acceptable since written
legislation and policy reflects the values of America.
Am I saying that we should completely dismantle our social
programs because of these shortcomings? No. These programs are
absolutely needed to help out our fellow Americans who have lost
their job, have a physical or mental disability, or have had a
death in the family. We must preserve these programs for precisely
these people, after all, charity and the helping of those that have
run into hardship is a value that is inherently American.
What I am saying is that we must embrace the honest, hardworking
American, and all the inherently American attributes that he
possesses. We shouldn’t know the pizza guy as precisely that Â
the Pizza Guy. We should know that his name is John, and he has
spent his life working in his pizza store and caring for his
family. Don’t let him live in anonymity, and don’t let his struggle
be in vain.
We do not need to look towards the government to get our
ingredients for our pizza, but, instead, we need to look to
ourselves and ask, "What would John, the Pizza Guy, do in my
situation?"
And I’ll tell you that John wouldn’t look to the government for
his dough, because it is against his values and the values of the
American people. We must let our government know that we are tired
of its policy of condoning those values that undermine the moral
character of American’s like ourselves and John. For it is
Americans like John that possess those values that were bequeathed
to us so many centuries ago. It is Americans like John who accept
the responsibilities that these American values entail. It is
Americans like John who make our country great.
Brian Choate is a second-year political science student.