I am sure that many people in America have turned on the news and have seen headlines that read something to the affect of the title of my blog. America is known as the land of opportunity, but this statistic doesn't really exemplify that statement. Perhaps America is going the opposite direction. Now, how should Americans feel about this issue? Conservatives would say that those are lazy people who don't want to work, while liberals would say that more government programs are needed. I somewhat disagree with both of these answers to that question. Americans should neither neglect the poor, nor should they satisfy their every want. America needs to find creative ways to make the programs it already has work and become more affective. Welfare, for example, is a system that at times does allow people to cheat the system and live solely off welfare checks. Food stamps do allow some people to buy extravagant meals that someone living in poverty doesn't need to live. The new health care bill may cause some people to get away with staying out of work, just to receive great health care benefits. However, not everyone that receives these benefits are lazy and cheat the system. Instead, a majority of them are working poor who need the money to feed their family, or need the health care for a sick child, or the welfare check to help pay for a higher standard of living. Some people, especially from the right, are mad that they themselves work hard, while others slouch around and don't even bother looking for a job.
Today, the American middle-class is dying. More and more people become poor while only a few become wealthy. America ranks poorly in social mobility. In other words, very few people climb the socioeconomic ladder. The view that those who become poor are lazy can be refuted with some simple statistics. For example, eight out of ten people who don't have health care are working poor. I do not, however, want to give readers an earful of statistics. I want to make the point that the poor in our country are fellow citizens whom we cannot leave behind while the top 1% of income earners rake in the cash. Programs in our nation must be made more efficient so that the poor are brought up out of poverty and into the middle-class. Eliminating the programs doesn't help anyone that is poor and underpriveleged. Instead, these programs should be refined to help them positively and move them along in the right direction.
Laws must be made to improve welfare and other programs that give the poor extra income. The government could issue debit-like cards that track a recipient's spending so that taxpayer money is not waisted. Otherwise, the card could be cancelled. The same can be argued for food stamps. Welfare should help and encourage people to find jobs. Our tax system should also be revised so that wealth is redistributed to the working poor and middle-class. THose who don't work might be encouraged to do so if they see the benefits that Americans get from the government if they work. These are just a few creative ways that these programs should be made more effective and efficient.
As a christian, helping the disadvantaged should be a priority on my list. God helps the weak and neglect. There is much to be done to improve the lives of Americans whether they are lazy or not. If Jesus walked the streets of New York City, would he tell all the bums that they are lazy and should get a job? Maybe to some, but he would also sit down and have a conversation with them, and would perhaps help them to get a good footing. Jesus dine with prostitutes, the poor, and the neglect. He did not point fingers and boast about the things he has done. Instead he would show them humbleness, kindness, and charity. Americans should do the same.
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