Welfare

Assertion: Everyone needs a little help from time to time, and sometimes, when all else fails, that help may need to come from the government. When that happens, we mustn’t blindly throw money at people; we must educate them, or help them find job training or apprenticeships. We must also ensure accountability: Recipients of government assistance must demonstrate that they are serious about finding employment, and welfare agencies must also show a determination to help those who are willing to help themselves. As such, any person who receives money in any form from a welfare agency should be subject to random drug testing and/or alcohol screening. An inability to pass either of these tests will disqualify most people from any job that requires it; that failure should also result in the instant disqualification of eligibility for future welfare assistance. The government has no business enabling reckless and self-defeating behavior, however, anyone can make a mistake. Upon the successful completion of a drug or alcohol treatment program the former enrollee may petition for reinstatement, but only once: Any subsequent relapse will irrevocably disqualify them from all future participation in any government-funded assistance program of any kind. Welfare should be used as a hand up, not as a lifetime hand-out. It should in no way enable a permanent lifestyle choice.

Why This Is Important: America has long been called “The Land of Opportunity,” and rightly so. We do our citizens no favors by encouraging a perpetual reliance upon “the Government,” nor are we helping those who need assistance by ignoring the issues which contribute to the problem in the first place. Those who end up on welfare rolls often do so as a result of failures upstream, and most are typically related to two things: family strife or a failed education. Often, the two are interrelated. If we really want to help our fellow man, and we are determined to use public funds to do so, we must ensure that we are addressing the core problems and not burying them under money and bureaucracy.

Constitutional Basis: There is no constitutional basis for government assistance, although it does exist in many forms. Our position is that welfare should be a matter for State governments, not the Federal government, and that in any event assistance should be rendered judiciously.

Quote: "...[T]he government of the United States is a definite government, confined to specified objects. It is not like the state governments, whose powers are more general. Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” – James Madison