It seems no matter how much we throw at poverty and dependence it doesn’t go away, in fact it may get worse. If we were successful would there not be a steady decline in these participation rates or at least a dramatic shortening of the participation period?
It’s not sufficient to say these people don’t need or deserve assistance, that is not the case, especially considering the large portion of recipients who are children.
Are we facing an economic problem or a cultural problem?
Can more money and more programs solve the latter if that be the case?
How can more of the same solve this problem if behavior has so much to do with its causes?
The real issue is what can we do to reverse these trends permanently. How do we replace dependence with self-sufficiency?
Nothing seems to be getting better.
Many people on the left are beside themselves at the prospect that a Trump administration and a Republican Congress will cut such programs and not show compassion for the needed. But how much compassion is there is keeping people in a dependent state? How much compassion is there in not addressing the fundamental problem that might be cultural and behavioral?
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 