Originally posted by newarts Yes the reality is that most do not live up to promises; perhaps alternative approaches should be sought. I believe that life on the dole by those who could otherwise contribute to society is not in our long run best interests.
No I don't know how to find better ways. Perhaps community child care centers staffed by part-time workfare people? Contributions of time to our educational system in exchange for food stamps? Parks & Recs services?
The solution there is actually just not what some want to hear: though it does fall in line with the slogan 'A Hand Up, Not A Hand Out.'
That actually means, not expecting that people do better if squeezed harder, but reducing liabilities over the long term by providing *enough* in a targeted way when someone can really use it. (And again, public health care would take the biggest expense as well as the biggest cause of downward mobility off the table, just like that, both on the employer's end and on the workers' end)
For a lot of people, problems become crises become patterns become *your life.*
I didn't have to become this sick, this worn-out, this ...generally-traumatized. A little *more* help early-on would have probably kept me off the street, but that's not how it came down. I so very nearly made it, I could taste it, too.
One pair of related catastrophes, (And a certain amount of bigotry, too) and it really took decades from me, not all of it even 'on the dole' ...by the time I got anything, actually, I was a *lot* sicker and more damaged than I had to be. A safe place to live and some food at the *right time* and I'd have been more like the Ivy League material I'd started out being.
Even a freaking athsma inhaler instead of over-the-counter epinehrine, never mind two bucks worth of amoxycillin when I needed it, would probably mean I could work through most of a day now: (That stuff'll shred your adrenal cortices, never mind if you've already got latent conditions, but if you can't breathe....) In trying to cheap out according to some 'work ethic,' a lot of people *really believe* it's just a matter of *morals* and not just *keeping breathing.* I don't even know what I *ate* for some years. I'm guessing it probably wasn't enough. People moralize and just don't want to accept that it's *not* just a matter of morals or capitalistic drive or 'willpower.' I've never faulted the gifts of the Mother about my natural endurance, but some things *do* exact their toll. Some things don't 'undo' just cause someone says they should.
Sometimes it needs to be an *actual hand up,* not the most miserly 'handout' if any that seems politically-feasible. Sometimes *Enough at the right time* could be a lot better than 'Not enough for a long time.'