It doesn't matter who you are and what background your from every individual wit

hin the United States possesses a opportunity to succeed and it comes down to th
ose who take advantage of it. It is every individual's responsibility to ensure
that he or she take steps to resolve their problems and get their life back in o
rder and not the government's. The biggest objection that people have with helpi
ng others is that much of the needy does not try to better themselves and that t
hey take a free ride through life. One very controversial program provided by th
e United States Government is welfare. The welfare system can be useful in socie
ty but there are also consequences to this system that must be addressed. As a c
onservative I believe welfare is insufficient and makes matters worse within thi
s country because it increases dependency and raises taxes.
Welfare is a public assistance program that provides at least a minimum
amount of economic security to people whose incomes are insufficient to maintain
an adequate standard of living. These programs generally include benefits such
as financial aid to individuals, subsidized medical care, and stamps that are us
ed to purchase food. The modern U.S. welfare system dates back to the Great Depr
ession of the 1930â s. During the worst parts of the Depression, about one-fourth of
the labor force was without work and more than two-thirds of all households woul
d have been considered poor by today's standards. With a majority of the adult p
opulation experiencing severe financial misfortune, many Americans turned to the
government for answers. In response, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt led a
social and economic reform movement attacking the Depression. Part of his newly
enacted â New Dealâ program was the Social Security Act, enacted by Congress in 1935. T
is act alone established a number of social welfare programs, each designed to p
rovide support for different segments of the population.Welfare has come a long
way since Roosevelt and was once a system that helped those in need until they c
ould get back on their feet, now welfare has turned into a system that serves as
a paycheck for irresponsible and lazy Americans.Welfare can be abused easily wh
en individuals constantly rely on it and don't see it as a temporary help and if
depended on forever people get comfortable and do not try to better their situa
tions thus eradicating their work ethic. Nowadays the welfare system has become
a target for gluttonous mothers who have no values or willingness to obtain a jo
b. These are the same individuals who relish the thought of obtaining free money
in the mail for doing absolutely nothing. According to Laura DuMond Kerr "1.5 m
illion unemployed women were on welfare in 2000" and that number continues to ac
cumulate today due to the economic hardships we possess within America. In other
cases many single mothers frequently have more children because more dependents
equals more welfare money within this country.Women are rewarded every time the
y give birth to a child which means those who are unemployed can make a career o
ut of making babies.Consider Nadya Suleman, a woman who just gave birth to eight
children after receiving fertility treatments, which added to the six children
she already had. Suleman was on welfare prior to the births, and she will remain
on welfare, showing that women are encouraged to have babies they cannot afford
, as the state and federal governments will pick up the tabs. According to New Y
ork Times " For a family of four, the subsidy will rise to $413.70 a month, fro
m $375.70" so just imagine the amount Nadya Suleman is recieving from welfare ch
ecks per month with no effort on her part surprising, isn't it. As a consertaive
individual I believe Welfare should be abolished because it is the only solutio
n and enacting such a change would encourage the self-reliance of recipients.
A tax is a charge a citizen pays to support the government, or a govern
ing authority of the country and state. Tax is mandatory for everyone in the cou
ntry, as opposed to voluntary disbursement and failure to do so is illegal and l
eads to criminal charges or civil punishments. Every year, the government has a
budget for various projects relating to improvements in public life including we
lfare and are funded by the money collected through income taxes. According to F
ederman "Approximately $354.3 billion in tax dollars goes to welfare" and in 200
7, half of all income tax revenues were paid by the richest 5% in the country wh
ich was the major reason why senior editor David Fettig stated "Tax policy [shou
ld] be left to do what it should be doing: minimizing tax distortions by not tax
ing capital income." He was aware when you tax the rich less, more money can be
invested into the economy and that alone can produce a substantial amount of job
s everywhere thus decreasing the amount of individuals on welfare. We currently
spend billions of tax dollars on a system that is proven to be inefficient and u
nproductive but do you realize the amount of debt our country is in. As a matter
of fact New York Times stated "Our national debt, for example, has increased by
more than $3 trillion since 2002. Once the worldâ s largest creditor nation, we are
now its largest debtor. We are currently borrowing more than $800 billion a year
from the Chinese, Japanese, South Koreans that will have to be repaid in full w
ith interest". If the government permanently took out welfare and all of its co
mponents we could save billions annually very easily and pay off this debt once
and for all in a timely manner. It is evident that welfare only serves for one t
rue purpose which is to ultimately eradicate the United States economy.
I feel that welfare has done no good to this country financially or inde
pendently for that matter at all. Welfare was designed to help those in need get
back on their feet, but clearly it has become quite corrupt. Welfare needs to b
e gone with because people don't learn if you spoon feed them. The world is crue
l, and the only way to survive is to be cold or acknowledge that fact, but those
who are on welfare never have to face the world because the government takes ca
re of them. I believe it's highly unjust for people on welfare to get anywhere n
ear the same luxuries as a hard working lower class citizen. Clearly, welfare wa
s a bad idea and needs to end quickly as possible before another conflict arises
within this nation.