Having been on foodstamps for a shortwhile back in the day I assure you this man knows of what he speaks.....

I've said for years that welfare is nothing more than slavery ... although I wasn't as 'pc' about it as Mr. West. My statement has always been that our gov't. has become the slave owner and instead of picking cotton, people are expected to vote. In any case, I consider what welfare does to people mentally to be a form of abuse. In effect it does nothing more than tell people they are too stupid, or incapable, of making a living on their own.

And, just as criminals used to feel shame but now consider certain crimes as a status symbol, being on welfare used to cause shame and people now consider it a 'right'. The whole mess is one big pile of skewed values. If there was EVER an end goal that was good or noble, it's been lost. I'm speaking of the whole picture, not towards any individual in a bad spot. We need to hold our gov't. accountable and demand that this mess be fixed.

I think this man has put his finger on it exactly.

Welfare can be so different for every person, though. My (then boyfriend, now husband) and I got into a terrible car accident in which he broke his hip and couldn't work for a while. He got unemployment and EBT for a year, but after a year he was right back to work, quit welfare cold turkey with no problems.
So many people view welfare as a state in which poor people are stuck in, a cycle that they cannot get out of, but in reality welfare, for a lot of people, is just a temporary crutch, a little extra help when times get bad, which I think is a great thing!
I do, however, definitely think there needs to be some type fo reform in our welfare system.

LIke with most things, there is a good and bad side to the welfare issue... there is the side of it that is continual, perpetual abuse... people using it as a way of life, with no intent to move on to a self-reliant standard of living. That part desperately needs reform. But these is another part, like the one Ludvik metioned above, where welfare steps in, fills a temporary and justified need, and the person moves on to a better life. Or like a friend of mine. She receives EBT. But she is also a wonderful foster mom for several kids. She raises them to be independent, hard workers, and sends them out to be contributing members of society. If they had stayed in their original homes, they'd most likely just become more people dependent on welfare, so I think she is doing a good thing...

When I was on it, do unforeseen circumstances similar to Ludvik, it was nice not have to worry about certain things, it was more of a relief NOT to be on it. A new thing the state of mi got was if you are on FA, you had to re qualify for FA every three months. It was a pain in the ass! Had to send all the bank statements, and proof we were NOT working, (ie..UE) light bill, mortgage payment etc. It was a major pain the ASS!!

I wish he was a presidential candidate...

Having been on FS very recently (though no longer), I can see some truth in what he's saying. Dh and I were just talking that now that he has a 'real job' (meaning he's working for someone else and has a regular paycheck rather than being self-employed) and we're starting to get back on our feet, it would be nice to still have a little bit of help while we try to pull ourselves the rest of the way up. Thing is, even before he got the job, he was doing contract work for them, and though we were making more money, we still qualified. However, we had to jump through so many hoops just to get a little help, that we decided it was stupid. We're glad we're no longer dependent on FS to eat, but it's still difficult for us. It's like if you don't cheat the system, then you don't get any help... and often times those who don't cheat it are in the most need of help... those who do cheat are the ones who are slave to it.

I was on food stamps for a few months right when I moved out of my ex's home and was on my own (after having been a SAHM for 8 years). I agree with him completely. It was hard once I started making enough to not qualify for food stamps anymore, but I had a desire not to be on them and I think that's the key - if you don't have the desire to work hard and provide for your family yourself, then there's no point in going off food stamps. As FarmLady mentioned, it used to be that government assistance of any type was shameful so people worked to get off of it. Now that they've made it so easy with the "credit cards" and things, it's much less evident who is on food stamps, so there's no shame in it, no reason to get off of it.