COLUMN: The vitality of social programs
So the bad word of the day is welfare. It reeks of Marxism, anti-American values and the very end of human life as we know it. Or does it? A friend of mine, a big Internet blogger, said it best when he said even sound policy becomes indefensible once the meaning behind a word has been changed. In fact, he advised me to never refer to welfare programs as welfare programs, said I would be shooting myself in the foot and setting myself up for failure.
Perhaps he’s right, but I always love a challenge.
Capitalist and democratic ideals deeply imbedded into our nation’s heart make it something of an anomaly as a far as western developed nations are concerned. Few of us understand the importance of social programs and government intervention in protecting the interests and opportunities of our citizenry. The social contract between the state and the individual is foreign to many of the individuals I come in contact with, and I feel it is high time we remove welfare from our list of dirty words not to say in polite company.
Never at any time in our country’s history have welfare programs cost a significantly burdensome amount to our overall finances. But many opponents of such social programs cite cost as a major reason to avoid socialized medicine, public assistance or other forms of welfare. Many of these same individuals might have supported or may as yet still support the financially reckless war we are currently engaged in. Even those who were against it from the get-go, myself included, curb vital societal security systems, simply for me because I’d like to see more of my paycheck each week.
When it comes to this and other ideological wars, it’s important to remind people that they need to support what helps themselves and society at large instead of what they think will. Conservative policy is favorable to only the corporate and financially bloated among us, our most lavish minority, the last people who need our help.
Trickery and clever words have turned Liberals into the elites in our society and has convinced working Americans that they are Conservatives while eroding their middle-class status, but let’s get back to the arguments against welfare.
While other American eras have been defined by the rise of the middle class and the prosperity of everyday, hard-working Americans, our nation’s base has been wooed by a hymn and capitalist sentiment. At this rate, our nation’s only hope lies in the prayers of rich liars.
Capitalism is a strong force for good as well as evil in this nation. All too often, I hear about how Capitalism can do no harm and how those who say otherwise are either high or sore Socialists bent on taking over the world. Not true. One only has to look at the evil caused by multinational corporations in the third world to see what big business does to little people when protections and everyday interests of citizens are ignored.
Then look at our own situation, where the division between the rich and the poor is growing at an astonishing rate, perhaps the widest it’s ever been. Now is time to turn the tide. We have a Democratically controlled Senate, and they are making some of the necessary changes: a rise in the minimum wage, lower student loan interest rates and putting a cap on wildly greedy corporate interests. But our ravaged social safety net is in dire need of attention.
They myth that you can live off of welfare on any level of comfort simply by being a single parent is just that – a myth. It never was true, and we are in no danger of it ever becoming true. This all impacts us though, not just those down on their luck. Corporate lobbyists are firing at social security now too, and we can’t suffer it any longer. Welfare does not encourage or perpetuate laziness in our society. It is about reinvesting into working and middle-class Americans and forging a healthier and sustainable economy. We are all in this together instead of in it for the money.
Class dismissed.
Matthew Blackham is a junior majoring in sociology. Comments can be sent to matblackham@cc.usu.edu.