When Welfare Doesn’t Work, What Does?
America’s welfare system is not working. The War on Poverty has failed miserably , and few in Congress have even broached the topic of serious welfare reforms. Members of the House Freedom Caucus have led the way in the this Congress, but, aside from their efforts at real conservative reform, there is little traction for those seeking to make welfare sustainable. Luckily for Americans, Congress doesn’t control their fate, they do.
The government has a long history of implementing duplicative, ineffective policies and leaving communities to pick up the pieces. From the feds creating the modern ObamaCare healthcare debacle to city government literally stealing donations meant for children, every time the state attempts to intervene to solve a societal ailment it just makes it worse. Welfare is no different.
When looking to alleviate the suffering of their fellow citizens, Americans need only look inwards. American citizens are already the most charitable citizenry in the world, and keep giving more money every year . Moreover, private charity organizations, by and large, run much more efficiently and with substantially lower overhead .
Private groups are providing money, resources and life-changing services better than the government is. Tired of seeing their impoverished neighbors get tossed around by the welfare system one group started an organization to successfully transition people off government support and into self-sufficiency. The core idea of such missions is to have neighbors helping their community members rise to their full potential and become productive by their own means. Of course neighbors helping neighbors only works if there are opportunities available to them.
No government intervention or individual generosity can finally end poverty. The only force powerful enough to lift people out of the clutches of poverty is free market capitalism . Many who advocate for expanding the welfare state in its traditional form fail to realize the positive power markets can play in reducing poverty.
The wealthiest societies are not those which provide their citizens with cradle to grave care; it’s actually the complete opposite ! The freer the society the easier it is for individuals to act and create wealth which in turn raises the standard of living. If allowed to thrive, market forces will create the greatest outcome to workers, companies, and those in need.
If the government is serious about helping the disadvantaged it will stop with the various welfare schemes, which inevitably fail, and get out of the way of the real engines of wealth creation. Neither the federal government, nor any local authorities have the means to truly address poverty. Government fails; freedom works.
