Welfare Reform is an Existential Necessity

“Sequester” has become a big, evil word in Washington these days. The proposal issued by President Obama to congressional Republicans at the end of August 2011 in exchange for a debt limit increase trimmed $85 Billion from the budget, a mere 2% across-the-board reduction in federal spending. Nonetheless, the White House calls these cuts “draconian” and has spent the last several months campaigning to the American people to lobby their members of congress to come up with an alternative to save entitlement programs. Now that the reductions have started to take place, the justification for how and why we fund some of these programs deserves a second look. On balance, the welfare program in this country is in dire need of fundamental reform, not just for financial stability, but because the system is wrought with fraud and abuse.

Why do we spend so much of the federal budget on welfare? The answer lies in the American Dream, the notion that the American social, economic and political system makes success possible for every individual.  As a patriot, I could not be prouder of the opportunities that this country affords those who are willing to work hard, play by the rules and get ahead. After all, I come from a family of immigrants. When my parents moved to Philadelphia in the late 1980s, they lived in a one bedroom cockroach-infested apartment, ate Ramen noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner, used the bottom of a cardboard box as their kitchen table and worked 16 hour days to make ends meet. Flash forward a quarter of a century later, my father became the lead anesthesiologist at a Southern California hospital and my mother finished her pharmacy education on nights and weekends and now manages a large pharmacy district in Orange County. This is the American Dream and only in the greatest country on earth is their story possible.

Why is it then that I have such a problem with our country’s welfare system? It is not the idea of helping hardworking individuals get ahead that I have a problem with. On the contrary, I applaud those intentions. Rather, it is the rampant fraud that permeates the system that I have such qualms over. My motivation for writing this piece was prompted by a childhood friend of one of my roommates who has lived in our townhome for the last month and a half. Ironically, the friend came from an underprivileged neighborhood in Philadelphia (the same region where my parents first arrived to the United States) and grew up with the roommate who agreed to take him in. Despite the fact that this friend continued to live in our place rent free while he “looked” to improve his circumstances, I cannot think of a single time in the last sixty days when I heard the words “thank you” come out of his mouth. Instead of looking for a job, signing up for classes or finding an apartment within the original two weeks he had said he would need a place to stay, this individual spent his days couch surfing, making regular trips to Wendy’s and McDonald’s and spent his monthly government check buying the latest $300 pair of Jordan limited edition sneakers. Surely I do not know this person’s entire background and perhaps I might feel differently if I knew more about his upbringing. Yet, here comes an individual from the other side of the country claiming that he wants to better his life. He is given the opportunity to do so on a silver platter, rent-free for over a month and a half. After a silly argument over the television remote, he storms off, packs up his things, called his childhood friend who had been hosting him words that are too inappropriate for me to include in this blog and moved on to the next friend who he hopes to live with for an extended period of time while he continues to spend his welfare check on the latest pair of basketball shoes.

I wish this story was unique, that this friend was a rotten egg in the batch. Unfortunately, stories like these are not unique because the problem is not individual, it is systemic. The notion that our country – the land of opportunity that made my parent’s story possible – provides assistance to those in need fits well on my moral compass. Yet, the very structure of America’s welfare system as it is with its insufficient checks in place and its unintended disregard for encouraging opportunity over complacency requires fundamental reform from the bottom up. Only when our welfare system starts to be thought of as an investment into stronger, prosperous communities rather than vulnerable charity will it live up to its intentions. I am a proud American patriot and I love the country that has given my family the opportunity to succeed. I want every individual who wants to work hard and play by the rules to enjoy the same success we have been so fortunate to appreciate. As Washington continues to wrestle with the sequester, a deeper look into reforming the welfare system is not an option. It is an existential necessity.