Assistance

What is with people and these pictures saying things like, "I work and pay taxes, so people who could work can collect welfare", or "We should drug test everyone on welfare"? I find these statements to be ridiculous and insulting. First of all, welfare is crap, you are below the poverty line, and the majority of people do not want to be on it. Second, if you can work they make you find a job. You can't just sit around and collect money just because you feel like it. Third, YOUR taxes don't pay for welfare, EVERYONE's do.  Just like you don't pay a policeman's salary (I never understood this, police pay taxes, so are they paying their own salary too?). Finally, there are very few people abusing welfare.  The last stats I saw were 1% or less. Now, for the drug testing. First of all, this would be incredibly expensive. The amount of money you might save by kicking people off welfare for testing positive would be a tiny fraction of what it would cost to test people. Plus, if someone did test positive you'd have to prove it was illegal and not some kind of medication. Opiates in particular show up as just "an opiate"; the person might be taking cough medication with codeine.  This would have to be investigated, and huge amounts of money would go into figuring this shit out.  What would you do with someone who tested positive?  Kick them off welfare?  Those people would end up homeless, in hospital, in prison or some variation of the three quickly. Providing those services cost much more than a welfare check.  Finally, who the fuck are you to tell people how to spend their money?  That woman buying ice cream with food stamps might have a kid at home with a birthday. If you are on welfare your life is probably crap, so why can't they live on ice cream or cake if that's what gets them through? Why do you care if they smoke, or drink, or whatever it is they do, to make their life bearable?  You personally did not hand them money, and you personally have no right to dictate how someone lives their life. What's next?  I know people who won't like this, and I say too damn bad.  If the government feels that someone doesn't deserve a welfare check, let them deal with it. There needs to be thinking about practicality. Practical things like, what is the ACTUAL number of people abusing government assistance? What are the costs of implementing restrictive laws? Welfare is a last resort for most people. Do you really want to put people and their families out on the street? What would that accomplish and how can you possibly justify it? But for the grace of god, go I.  People on assistance are not OTHER, they are normal people whose life took a shitty turn.  It could easily be you.