It is a long time until the Tuesday after the first Monday in
November. Between now and that time you
will hear thousands of lies. There will
be a mixture of truths, half-truths and lies.
If I had the vocabulary of some of my Democrat friends I would add their
third category-d___ lies. Make no
mistake about it both the Democrat and the Republican party will lie, even if
it hurts the nation, if it will advance their cause.
I recently saw a
post on face book that I wish to address in this blog. The post was prepared by an individual evidently and then shared by others,
entitled, “3 Republican Lies About Welfare.” I notice there is a prevailing
trait among everyone to share those things that they believe in without
checking the accuracy and to check the accuracy if it does not agree with their
thinking.
. First, I wish to
address the title. I am not a Republican
or a Democrat, I have been guilty of voting for both parties and think the
death of both parties, as they now function, probably would be good for
America. I have never had a Republican
tell me those “lies or facts” as they are presented. But I am sure there are elitists in both
parties that individually accept those three things as fact.
Number one:
Undocumented immigrants abuse the welfare system. Is the statement saying illegal aliens abuse
the welfare system or undocumented immigrants?
There are some words some folks cannot say.
The next thing I wonder about is the use of the word abuse. Is that saying that they use the system
illegally or in some way else abuse the system? I interpreted the statement to say that
illegal aliens are receiving funds from the welfare system. At least his “fact” is clear; They cannot
qualify for any form of public assistance.
Unfortunately his fact is a lie. First, no
person citizen or noncitizen can be denied Medicaid funds. The 1996 reforms changed almost every aspect
of non-citizen eligibility for welfare.
I will not burden the reader with all of those reforms but just enough
to prove that the fact is a lie.
Refugees are eligible for all welfare benefits. A person who has worked in the United States
for ten years, citizen or not, is eligible for welfare benefits and his dependents. I think also that children born in the United
States, they are citizens, and probably their parents, citizen or non-citizen,
would probably be entitled to aid.
With some exceptions, non-citizens entering the United
States after August 22, 1996, the date of enactment of the welfare reform
legislation, are not eligible for most welfare benefits, including Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), SSI, Medicaid, and the State Children's
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), UNTIL they have been in the U.S. for at least
five years. Keeping this general principle in mind, a more thorough review of
the 1996 provisions reveals both their complexity and breadth.
Number two: (Lie) Welfare encourages people to not work. His fact:
Most welfare recipients work.
This is so shallow that it scarcely
deserves any type of response.
Obviously, most welfare recipients are not encouraged to not work. Many are old, retired and/or physically
unable to work. But I know folks who
will not take a job for fear of losing their welfare check. And what type of fact would his fact be since
most folks are not even in physical condition to work.
Number three: (Lie) Most welfare
recipients are minorities. His
fact: Most welfare recipients are white.
This one is a classic. We can talk about the number of folks on the
welfare roles by the actual physical numbers or we can refer to them as a
percent of the population. Before I
present the actual numbers of the welfare system permit me to use a specific
case. I know a town in Mississippi in
which there is not a single white person on the welfare role. By the same token, every person receiving
welfare is black. Sounds like something
a racist would say. However, those two
statements say nothing at all because the town is an all black town. Could be that only one person is receiving
welfare; but the per cents receiving welfare still remain the same—white 0%;
black 100%.
According to the 2010 census the
population of the United States was 309.3 million: of that number 223,553,265
were white, 38,929,319 were African-American. Thus
you have percentage wise: 72.4% white, 12.6% African-Americans. 23.1% of white population, 54.6% of the African-American population, and 54.1% of the
Hispanic population are on the welfare roles. Thus the comparison is: obviously there are
more whites on welfare because they make up 72.4% of the population. But, when you compare percent of the
population to the percent receiving welfare you receive a total different
picture.
If I may conclude with the immortal words
of the great leader of the Democrat party, “What difference does it make?” She was speaking of the deaths of men. Surely, I can say the same words about the
welfare system. It matter
s not the
number receiving welfare, what does matter is the number of able-bodied men and
women who are abusing the system.
