Hello. I thought I would add my two cents to this discussion. I have had a lot of interaction with people on welfare.
I can honestly say I have had much more experience than most. I have gone into housing projects in some of the worst neighborhoods in St. Louis, Chicago and Southern Illinois. In talking with the residents-I have found the following. Many of the residents have multiple relatives living in the same project or one nearby. It is very common to have aunts, mothers and grandmothers all living in public housing. Many are headed by single women. The places are in disrepair-visually unappealing-and strife with crime. There seems to be no ability to plan ahead-no planning for tomorrow. Now I will explain what I have learned are the causes of these problems.
Welfare has become a dysfunctional multi-generation cycle in our country. Women and in many cases girls have children, get on welfare and apply for public housing. This was done by their mother and their mother’s mother. Why? Because this is how they grew up. To most of us, we want to do better in life. Make money, have a decent home, raise happy healthy children that want to do well. These simple values that most of us share are foreign to the multigenerational welfare family. We aspire to do well in life and with a lot of work; our children will do even better. These ideas are not shared. These values are not passed down. Complacency and apathy are the norm. They have never been taught something better is out there and it is attainable by education, hard work and treating others decently. It is sad but it is true.
The absent father is another product of a broken system. Because many of these public housing apartments are so filled with people, older children are encouraged to stay outside. This lack of parental supervision makes these young men susceptible to gang involvement and other illegal activities. The young women, also unsupervised, seek attention from the young men. They get pregnant. The cycle continues. Because the young men do not have the ability to support their children they run off. In this culture the measure of the man is not how hard he works or well he treats his family-the measure is how many children they fathered. It is sad. It is true.
The disrepair, visually unappealing and unkempt public housing projects are caused by something that is very simple but very true. If a person doesn’t have to pay for an item; that person will never know the value of the item. The high amount of crime is part of the culture that enforces the idea of “getting something for nothing.” The crime rate is also enforced by the lack of proper role models. These kids love athletes and Rappers. These rappers make millions singing about life in the hood, shooting cops and smacking women around while they live in palatial mansions. It’s a shame these kids don’t realize that these rappers are getting rich by encouraging their fans to behave in a way that will ensure they never have a mansion or even a decent home to call their own.
There is no thinking about tomorrow. In other words there is nothing to look forward too, no aspirations and no hope. You know of nothing better that can be achieved.
The welfare system is broken in this country. The only way to fix it is to cut people off cold turkey. The problem with that are innocent children living in the system. To break the cycle do we take the bread out of the mouths of babes? I don’t have that answer. I wish I did. I think we can all agree that in order to fix this huge mess, some tough decisions have to be made. I can honestly say I am glad I don’t have to make that decision.