Welfare Part II

Here is an analogy to a similar set of circumstances in my life as to why I disagree with government sponsored welfare programs. My brother is an alcoholic, and if I give him money, it only enables him to buy booze. He has no job and is over fifty thousand dollars in debt, and I cannot give him any money. It pains me, and he may ultimately die young. But, if he does not help himself, he will never recover. This sounds cruel, but anyone that goes to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) will tell you the same thing. A relationship with addicted family members can only be classified as “tough love”, or they will never get better. My dad who was a recovered alcoholic gave the same advice because he went through the process himself. In the past, my older brother and I have given my brother large sums of money, free room and board, and supported him during his disease. It never helped him get better. Our behavior was not making him better. It was only enabling him to continue on his destructive path. Shortly after my brother became homeless, he started to fight again to survive. He has gotten a job and hopefully has turned the corner. Welfare is a larger problem, but it too needs to be incentive based to get any type of improvement. Without incentives, the welfare population increases in oppressed areas, and things are only going to get worse. And the division between the rich and poor will continue to grow.

My brother’s alcohol addiction has led to his ever increasing deteriorating health. Over the past five years, he has been unable to keep a job longer than three months because of his health and addiction. His health problems are much more complicated than just alcoholism. He is also addicted to cigarettes, caffeine, and unhealthy foods. To make issues worse, he gets absolutely no exercise. His health issues coupled with his inability to keep a job has put him drastically in debt. His problems and issues are his own fault and he has no one to blame but himself. He deserves absolutely no assistance from the government or anyone else because it is not going to solve his problems. In fact, it will only encourage him to continue with his bad habits until he dies from his ailments. Our family exhausted all our means to help him, but he refuses to get any assistance for his addictions. It is sad, but it is amazing how much a family member with an addiction can affect the attitudes and emotions of the rest of the family. It brings everyone down. The federal government should not be helping or encouraging “deadbeats” like my brother to continue with his bad habits. As I stated above, my older brother and I are hopeful that my younger brother has turned a corner and is getting better. If we did not turn our backs on him, he certainly would not have gotten better. And thankfully he did not turn to the federal government for more handouts to encourage him to continue with his addiction.

My Book: Is America Dying? (Barnes and Noble, Amazon.com)