Welfare Reform
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HELPING THE HAVE-NOTS
- Help the have-nots more through increased opportunities which they can take advantage of, and less through entitlements or "aid to the needy" programs.
- Invest more in cost-efficient infrastructure which benefits all, such as universal free high-speed Internet access.
Re-evaluate welfare programs and find a way to lower their cost without undermining legitimate needs they serve.
- Focus on reducing welfare in the form of benefits to selected "needy" recipients at the expense of taxpayers and instead replacing that approach with one that transforms "recipients" into responsible contributors to our society.
- There may be a need to examine what conditions cause the situations of current welfare recipients.
- Perhaps employ them in legitimate public works/infrastructure programs to benefit society generally, but not "makework" or "charity" jobs of any kind, nor any form of corporate welfare.
Envision a new approach: Realizing there may always be a need for some form of welfare (such as to deal with disability, temporary job loss, etc.), work toward a society where the current form of welfare becomes obsolete and no one enjoys a "free ride" at the expense of taxpayers. Stop dealing with the welfare-seeker as a victim in need of pity, as in the present system, but as a potential asset to society which is going to waste, and in whom the state, i.e., taxpayers, might invest so as to gain a benefit or payback which is greater than the cost.
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2-STEP REFORM PROCESS
- Stop rewarding failure and bad behavior: Put an end to those aspects of the welfare state which demean beneficiaries, diminish self-reliance, breed dependency, and reinforce social pathologies by creating unintended rewards for people to do counterproductive behavior in order to qualify for welfare payments (e.g., paying people to have children they cannot support, discouraging saving, and encouraging unemployment).
- Promote discipline and responsibility: Pursue cost-effective means of imposing responsibility onto the recipients, such as directing them into needed public service in some form which genuinely benefits society. Require recipients of public assistance to participate in economic, educational, and social programs designed to develop each individual's capacity to contribute to society. Thus, let them become "participants" in the programs, more than "recipients."
True Reform = Lower Cost
For all these reforms, insist on low-cost measures only and on net cost savings as an absolute prerequisite for any reform to be undertaken, unlike current "welfare reform" which has not reduced the cost burden to taxpayers.
- Allow local or state agencies flexibility to allocate the federal funds to meet the particular local needs and to experiment with new approaches, based on some broad federal guidelines.
- In the near term, let the current W.I.C. program serve as a model for reforming public assistance to make it more efficient and to serve as the transition form in the interim until "public assistance" as we know it is totally phased out.
- Meet only the essential needs of recipients without paying them any form of negotiable currency, but use vouchers which cannot be cashed or sold, and allow no change back to recipients which could be spent on non-essentials.