My Big Fat Welfare Check

Lately, there have been a lot of quick polls posted on FB. Do you like Coke or Pepsi? Ohioans: Are you for or against Senate Bill 5? Stuff like that. And then it gives the percentage of people who voted one way or another. One I saw the other day said this, “Should a person have to pass a drug test in order to receive government benefits, such as welfare?” The poll voters, at least at that point, were overwhelmingly voting “Yes.” To me, this says one thing: people on Facebook hate children.

Now first of all, I just want to clarify that hating children is okay in my book. In fact, if there was a poll on Facebook that asked, “Do you hate children?” I might be tempted to answer “yes,” to that one. I like my child (in theory), but I get annoyed with other children. I don’t like it when they whine. When they are in their pre-orthodontia phase, their teeth really freak me out. Teenagers, with their weird obsession with Edward Cullen and their lightening-fast texting skills irritate me, too. But as much as these youngsters bother me, I would never purposely take food out of their mouths, take clothes off of their backs, or prevent a roof from being placed over their heads; but when you state that welfare checks should be prohibited for people who fail drug tests, that’s exactly what you’re saying.

Because here are some true statements: The average welfare check for a family of four is $900 a month, plus food stamps equaling about $500. That works out to a princely salary of $16,800 a year for a family of four, to feed them, clothe them, provide a home for them to live, pay their utilities, and also, pay for necessary things like transportation. Unlike what many talk-show pundits and awesome white people say, this is not a life of luxury, under any stretch of the imagination. Close your eyes for a moment, and imagine the life of a child living in that situation. Do you think it would be difficult? Do you think children deserve to grow up in poverty? I’m just wondering. Because even a child of a parent who is trying his or her hardest to get by, perhaps working in a low-paying job, but doing everything he or she is supposed to do to provide a safe and loving home….even that child has a hard road ahead of him or her. It’s tough to be poor in America.

Now, let’s change that situation a little bit. Instead of having an upstanding parent who just can’t find a good-paying job for whatever reason, let’s make that parent a drug addict. According to the majority of people who answered this Facebook poll question, the children of drug addicted parents who receive welfare checks should be punished. Their parents should NOT receive their gigantic, awesome, spectacular welfare check unless they test clean on a drug test. And if I am assuming the intelligence of Facebook voters who answered “yes” to this question, the Facebook voters are, in fact, totally okay with the children of those dirty drug addicts being tossed out on the street, or without electricity, or without clothing, or whatever other totally luxuries are purchased with a welfare check. Because if the parents can’t get their welfare check, then the kids don’t get it either.

And I know what some of you are thinking to yourself, “Why should we give drug addicts our hard-earned money? Even if they get a welfare check, they won’t put that money to rent, or utilities, or transportation, or clothing for their children.” Here is my question: how many poor, drug addicted welfare recipients do you know? And I’m not talking about the ones that Glenn Beck demonizes on his show, I am talking about personally know. Not heard of, not heard about, not a friend of a friend, not read about. Know. In this country, 4 million people receive welfare checks, and about 37 million receive food stamps. Even if you know one person who went straight from the welfare office to the crack house and smoked his or her entire welfare check, do you know what the other 4 million are doing? And yet you want to sit on FACEBOOK all day, instead of doing something about it, and pass judgment on millions of people you have never met. Well, thank God we live in America, where you have the right to do that. And thank God only poor people are addicted to drugs! Imagine if drug addiction were a real problem that wealthy people suffered from too! That would be horrible, wouldn’t it! Then we might have to start saying, “People who test positive on drug tests should not get a tax refund. Or a driver’s license. Or be allowed to have children. Or walk on public streets.” But since only poor, welfare recipients are addicted to drugs, we don’t have to worry about making any other rules.

And here is the last thing I am going to say to you, those of you who answered “yes” on that dumb Facebook poll: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. We have a choice in this life – to hold tightly to what little we have on this earth, and begrudge others their piece unless they would use it exactly as we demand they do, or to understand that we are all the same, and when you deny others what they would have to live, you deny yourself the opportunity to be a loving, caring, compassionate human being.