I read a little something on Facebook today which started me thinking on a different path.

I am basically against welfare. I am not against it because I am white.

I am also not against it because I am middle class.

I am against welfare because it strips people of their self worth and condemns them to living in a cycle of poverty.

This is a change for me because I really have always thought we should help out those who are struggling and I still think we should. I think that anyone who is a veteran or disabled should be given as many services as they need.

What I don’t believe in is rewarding laziness or sloth.

But it is more than that. Welfare ensures we will always have people living at poverty level. As long as they don’t have the audacity to get an education and better themselves and they keep popping out babies we will continue to have a class of poor people.

Welfare doesn’t pay for much but it sure can steal a lot from someone. It can steal their confidence, their dreams, their hopes for a better future, it can sap their energy because energy is not needed to be a couch potato. Furthermore I suspect that most families who are on welfare beget more welfare recipients.

If we really wanted to help people out we should put restrictions on welfare. You only get it for a short time and then you have to go back to work or get an education. Some people fall on hard times and it would assist them through that but some people are just lazy and paying them to be lazy does not stop the laziness.

If we cut back on welfare and invested that money into education for these people who knows what they may accomplish? Or better yet invest some of that money into businesses who would be forced to hire former welfare recipients to continue to get their stipend and then wean the business off of the public dole as it becomes successful. There are numerous ways to encourage people to become productive but to keep throwing money at them for having babies and sitting on a couch is not one of the ways.