There is no decent person on this earth who denies that those who have the financial ability should help the “needy poor.” Nearly all religions are replete with commands and examples to help the “poor” and less fortunate. I’m not going to waste space arguing human decency.
The United States remains the richest country in the world. Given that fact, we should be leading the world in helping those who are “poor,” in America and around the globe. And we have done so. That is an undeniable fact. The people of America have given literally untold trillions of dollars to help less fortunate people worldwide. We’ve always been there when the world has needed us.
Yet, there are a few facts that stare us in the face. The national government is currently over $38 trillion in debt, and has also spent untold trillions in the last 60+years in a “war against poverty” in America. Many state governments are also deeply in debt. Yet, we have more people sleeping on the streets than at any time in our history, millions in Africa are still on the verge of starvation—i.e., we haven’t solved the “world hunger” problem, either—and the American poverty rate still hovers between 11 and 13%, depending upon whose figures are consulted, and has never been under 10%. Something doesn’t quite add up. Why does so much poverty remain when so much money has been spent trying to end it?
That many people have been helped is unquestionable. The goal should be to “lift” people from poverty and get them on the road to success in life. When that happens, we have been successful.
But the horrible numbers remain. After countless trillions of dollars spent, uncountable millions worldwide (probably billions) remain destitute.
Part of the reason is that we are simply using the least efficient means possible of getting money where it needs to be: government. Charity is not something the government does well. Our Founding Fathers understood that. James Madison, the “Father” of our Constitution, wrote, “Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.” There is nothing in our Constitution that authorizes the federal government to spend one dime on all the “welfare programs” that the country has created. Every one of them is unconstitutional. It’s not that Madison, et al, were cold-hearted when it came to the poor; the question was not, and never has been, should the poor be helped. The question should be “what’s the best way to do it?”
Well, after the trillions of dollars of government money has been spent on “poverty,” and “poverty” still exists in huge numbers—not to mention putting the country $38 trillion in debt—we might want to start asking that question and wondering if using government politicians and bureaucrats as the middlemen for solving poverty might not be the most efficient means available.
The “poor” are a mixed lot—even defining WHO is “poor” is not always easy. Some “poor” people will always be poor for the simple reason that they are lazy and refuse to do what is necessary to get themselves out of poverty.
Most intelligent people aren’t for helping the “lazy bum.” Most of us don’t have the money to flush down a human toilet.
Most sane people wonder if a person is capable of taking care of themselves, but simply won’t, then why should society do it? We owe them nothing and that is exactly what we should give them.
Some people are poor through no fault of their own. But people also move “in” and “out” of “poverty.” When I was going to graduate school—a deliberate choice—my “income” put me “below the poverty line.” That was a choice I made, deliberately, and, once I finished my schooling, I got a job and moved “out” of poverty. It’s not so simple that “everybody below the poverty line” needs help, especially government help. I never took one dime of taxpayers’ money when I was in graduate school. Oversimplification of the “poverty problem” is something politicians do well, and do for the purpose of moral preening and buying votes.
Alexis de Tocqueville wrote this great truth about human nature: “Any measure that establishes legal charity on a permanent basis and gives it an administrative form thereby creates an idle and lazy class, living at the expense of the industrial and working class.” There are the noble, who will always work and don’t want government welfare. There are the shiftless who will refuse to take care of themselves and are owed nothing. But there is that broad middle, some who will use a “handout” to get back on their feet, but others who simply do not have the nobility and excellence of character necessary to use a helping hand to re-establish themselves. How many “people in poverty” has our government created, and KEPT THERE, through their “war on poverty” programs?
Some people get on welfare and they remain there, even though they, physically, don’t need to be. Their character—or lack thereof—would simply rather parasite off other people than work. They are incentivized into the “lazy bum” class and their number is legion.
How many of the illegals who are now in the country came because they are truly fleeing an oppressive government? Maybe some. How many came because they really want a job? Maybe some. How many came because the government is giving out free stuff if they DO come? One would be too many.
Americans who work have the right to keep what they earn. Here is Dr. Walter Williams’ definition of “social justice”: “I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then, tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you—and why?”
That sounds like a pretty good definition to me.
My substacks are a little unique. Not just current events, but history, our Founding Fathers, what America was meant to be, and Biblical exegesis. Check them out. “Mark It Down! (mklewis929.substack.com), and “Mark It Down! Bible Substack” (mklbibless.substack.com). Both free. Follow me on “X”: @thailandmkl. Read my western novels, Whitewater, River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma, all available on Amazon.
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