My plan will kill two birds with one stone and be loved by some and hated by others. Ok, here it goes. I say take all healthy adults between 18-35 who are not working for whatever reason and collecting some sore of welfare be it money, food, stamps or a medical card and make them enlist in the service. They will be in for eight years this way we will have a nice steady stream on new solders going into the service or a bunch of lazy people being forced to get off of their lazy butts and find a job as a civilian.

 

 

Totally but respectfully disagree NCF. The military is not the place for these folks. If I'm in a firefight, I want the guy next to me to be there for the right reason, not because he wasn't willing to get a job as a civilian.

 

Make them do some other public service to earn the welfare.

 

Along those lines, one of my pet peeves about food kitchens is that they get folks to volunteer their time and take off work or take time away from their families to serve the food to the unemployed, pick up trays, clean up etc. I'm sorry, but the folks getting the free food should be doing this themselves. If they are able bodied enough to get to the food kitchen, they are able bodied enough to work in the serving line and clean up.

I think we all know that are problems with the welfare system. However, this "one size fits all" approach is not the right answer.

The military is not the place for these folks. If I'm in a firefight, I want the guy next to me to be there for the right reason, not because he wasn't willing to get a job as a civilian.

If we followed that line of thought, we'd have been in real trouble in WW II. :eek:

 

 

Along those lines, one of my pet peeves about food kitchens is that they get folks to volunteer their time and take off work or take time away from their families...

I doubt that anyone takes off work to work in a soup kitchen. And if they work there, it's because they want to, and because they get deeply personal rewards from doing so.

I think we all know that are problems with the welfare system. However, this "one size fits all" approach is not the right answer.

I don't follow your "one size fits all" comment.

I don't follow your "one size fits all" comment.

 

...meaning that the stereotypical idea of a welfare recipient and the solution to the problem is not "let's take them all and ____" (fill in the blank with whatever, i.e., take their kids away, make them all serve in the armed forces, etc). This shows a lack of actual understanding of circumstances. Sure, there are many that abuse the situation and problems that are created by the system for those that are trying to get out of it. But the aforementioned "solutions" do not solve the problem.

Not really all that hard.

 

 

Really? How do you find "decent family environment?"

If we followed that line of thought, we'd have been in real trouble in WW II. :eek:

 

 

.

 

Are you saying that only those who couldn't find a job served and fought in WWII?

...meaning that the stereotypical idea of a welfare recipient and the solution to the problem is not "let's take them all and ____" (fill in the blank with whatever, i.e., take their kids away, make them all serve in the armed forces, etc). This shows a lack of actual understanding of circumstances. Sure, there are many that abuse the situation and problems that are created by the system for those that are trying to get out of it. But the aforementioned "solutions" do not solve the problem.

The ones that I'm (and I'm pretty sure newarkcatholicfan) talking about are the ones milking the system. It's really that simple. We're not talking about the ones who need it, we're not talking about the ones who are trapped in the system, we're not talking about the ones that are working hard to try to get out of it.

Do you honestly believe that people who have made it a way of life and could care less what their children are doing or where they are deserve to continue to get a free ride or even deserve to have children?

Are you saying that only those who couldn't find a job served and fought in WWII?

Not at all. I'm saying that there were a whole lot of men who were serving only because they were drafted, not because they wanted to be there. Were they (as was suggested by the other poster) unworthy of being in a firefight with those who signed up on their own accord?

Really? How do you find "decent family environment?"

How do I find or how do I define?

How do I find or how do I define?

 

Oops. "Define" is what I meant to type. How do you put it in writing?

Oops. "Define" is what I meant to type. How do you put it in writing?

Parents that give a darn as to how their children are raised. Good values, see to it they go to school, actually take an interest in their kids. You know, be a parent. Just because you live on welfare doesn't mean you can't raise good kids.

The ones that I'm (and I'm pretty sure newarkcatholicfan) talking about are the ones milking the system. It's really that simple. We're not talking about the ones who need it, we're not talking about the ones who are trapped in the system, we're not talking about the ones that are working hard to try to get out of it.

Do you honestly believe that people who have made it a way of life and could care less what their children are doing or where they are deserve to continue to get a free ride or even deserve to have children?[/b]

 

I believe that this is a totally separate problem...I can give you as many examples of more "well-to-do" parents with this mentality as I can give you of those in poverty. If you want to take away someone's kids, fine...don't do it because they are poor, but because of the above underlined part.

 

As far as the way of life part...once my school year has ended, I will start a Understanding Poverty thread, based on the book by Ruby Payne. The book doesn't say the "poverty as a way of life" is correct, it just allows you to look into that mindset.

Parents that give a darn as to how their children are raised. Good values, see to it they go to school, actually take an interest in their kids. You know, be a parent. Just because you live on welfare doesn't mean you can't raise good kids.

Call me simple, but can you tie this back into what it has to do with welfare? I think you're saying that we need to punish(?) those who don't "deserve" welfare. But I'm not sure how this all ties together.

 

I have to agree with TB&G. These are two unrelated problems. Money covers a variety of sins and one of them is bad parenting. I think the very nature of poverty leads to more neglect of children, but I think that is more often a matter of choices then bad parenting.

If you want to take away someone's kids, fine...don't do it because they are poor, but because of the above bolded part.

Although his solution is extreme, I still can't recall him ever saying anything about poverty being the deciding factor. The deciding factor, in this case, would be bad parenting.