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with Dependent Children. I saw from the inside the destructiveness, inhumanity and cruelty of government support pretending to be assistance and charity.
Welfare funds were available to women who were poor, not working and not married. Those were the conditions that had to be met to get the money.
Instead of being charitable and humanitarian, the government assistance was really a heartless subsidy that encouraged poverty, unemployment and sexual promiscuity out of marriage.
Welfare reform in 1996 showed how a Democratic president, Bill Clinton, could productively work with a Republican House, under the leadership of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Bill Clinton had promised to “end welfare as we know it,” and House Republicans stepped up to work with him.
When Temporary Assistance for Needy Families was put forward by Republicans, reforming welfare with work requirements and time limits, Democrats started screaming, as they are screaming now.
Poor women would be thrown into the streets. It is amazing how those who supposedly care about people have such little respect for the humanity, creativity and resiliency of those same people.
When suddenly poor women on welfare were faced with time limits for welfare and work requirements, the world changed for the better, for everyone.
In 2006, 10 years after welfare reform was passed, Ron Haskins, Brookings Institution scholar, testified before Congress summarizing the results.
From 1994 to 2005, welfare caseloads declined 60%. From 1993 to 2000, employment among single mothers increased from 58.9% to 75%. Employment among never married mothers increased from 44% to 66%. For female-headed households in the bottom 40% of the income distribution, income attributable to earnings increased from 30% to 55% from 1993 to 2000, and income attributed to welfare declined from 60% to 23%.
Theologians and philosophers over the ages have noted that the highest charitable act is to help someone become self-sufficient.
Unfortunately, the many forms of welfare distributed by our government take recipients in the opposite direction. Kevin McCarthy and House Republicans are doing the nation a great favor with the Limit, Save, Grow Act.
Let’s hope they get somewhere with a president and a Democratic Party whose vision for our future is a nation bloated with spending, debt and dependence.
Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show “Cure America with Star Parker.” To find out more about Star Parker and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www. creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2023 CREATORS. COM
