I have a hard time with programs like this. The compassionate side of me says we need to be helping people, especially children; but the pragmatic side of me says we're only fueling dependency on government.
I have a saying I coined: "When you remove responsibility from someone, you make them irresponsible". The more government does for people, the less they tend to do for themselves.
Clearly, we can't just cut these programs off; the sad reality is that children would go without eating. But I think we need to recognize that our society has some major problems, and start addressing those problems. A shockingly high percentage of parents just don't seem to care much about their children, and many of them are simply too selfish to make the sacrifices that are necessary for being a good parent. I saw a shocking amount of this back when my kid was in school. I would guess that less than one in five parents came out to support their children in extra-curricular activities. I can't tell you how many band and color guard kids I bought meals for, and how many of them I heard saying they wish their parents would watch them perform. It was very sad!
To make it worse; our economy has become one that requires most families to have dual incomes to make ends meet, and that typically means both parents have to work, which makes it difficult for parents to make their children priority. We have also become accustomed to living too high on the hog. Even people I see working at fast food places and using EBT cards usually have the latest smart phones with data plans and are wearing tennis shoes that cost upwards of $100 a pair. Add in out-of-control expenses such as healthcare, and it's very hard for young families to make it these days.
A lot of things are out of whack in our country, and too many people are turning to the government to address these issues with Socialist methods, when we should be going back to fix the root cause of them. Our economy needs to be restructured to produce more higher paying "career" type jobs so people will be able to support their families on a single income again. The lower paying service type jobs would remain mostly for younger people or those only looking for supplemental types of incomes. Meaning...people trying to support a family should be working better paying jobs in areas such as manufacturing, skilled trades, of professional positions; not fast food places or WalMart.
Our educational system is also in a mess. Too many kids are leaving high school almost illiterate, and certainly with no critical thinking skills whatsoever. Colleges have become more about milking the government and / or grant and scholarship programs, and many of the degrees they are handing out are virtually worthless. While some people should be going to college, a lot more should be pursuing an education in one of the trades. And yes, we need to put vocational training back into the high schools.
Most importantly...we somehow have to fix the American family. Divorce rates are horrible and breaking up families left and right, leaving children caught in the middle. We must return to the concept of husband and wife, together, being the foundation of the family, and devoting themselves to raising their children to he happy and well-adjusted adults. As mentioned above; that required parents to make sacrifices, but the returns are so worth it!!
And we must reverse course on the welfare state. It will take a generation to do this; but we must begin moving people away from the lifestyle of dependency and into a life of self-sufficiency. This will take some investment and a lot of education, but it can be done. But it will only work if we put reasonable limits on government assistance. Besides robbing people of their humanity; the welfare system is one of the main things that is ruining our economy. There simply aren't enough people working and earning salaries in our country to pay the bills, this is one of the main reasons why we have amassed such a huge national debt, and also partly why our tax rates are so high.
OK, enough of my sermon for today.
