Essay: Why The Government Shouldn T Do

The United States and its people are governed by the central force of the government. However, even though the government has been around for centuries, there are those that are still arguing about the purpose of the government. These people include presidents, senators, newscasters, and even the regular people of the United States. The Great man and second president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson once states, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.” Through the quote, it can be found that Thomas Jefferson believed the purpose of the government is to protect the lives of the people and ensure their happiness. Thomas Jefferson was right when saying that one of the purposes of government is to protect the people, however, protecting the people isn’t all the government does. The purpose of government is to ensure the protection of the people, their rights, and to establish justice for those who need it.

More than half of the citizens of the United States believe that the government has more power than they should. This amount is the highest it has ever been and it continues to grow each and every year. Trusting your government is crucial to building a solid country. If the United States government is becoming more untrustworthy, the country is sure to fall apart at its seams. The government has too much control over people because they are constantly watching with cameras and electronics, they can kidnap or kill you without anyone ever knowing what happened, and they intervene in citizens lives too often.

Why is government necessary? In the words of Alexander Hamilton, “Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint” (Federalist No. 15 137). Men have a sin nature and must have an authority set in place to keep them from falling into anarchy. America has federal and state governments with a system of checks and balances for exactly this reason, but one sector of the government has overstepped the bounds that were set for it in this country’s infancy. In order to answer the question of whether more power should be put into the hands of the federal or state government, three things must be considered: the history of state’s rights in America, the differing types of government, and the constitution itself.

The government of the United States controls countless affairs in the world. They control everything from the currency to the court systems. Individuals are suppose to be able to trusting your government system, which has not been the case in many different circumstances. From Richard Nixon to the Whitewater scandal, the government has been everything but honest.

Also, with little regulations on government assistance, it is easy for people to do things like, sell their food stamps. Growing up, my mom was on drugs. She did not work, therefore she got food stamps and Medicaid. She would sell her food stamps to her friends, that way she would get the cash instead. Then she would spend that cash on drugs. This happens quite often. This is another personal example of welfare

Emily Badger said in The Washington Post “The reality, though, is that a tremendous share of people who rely on government programs designed for the poor in fact work — they just don't make enough at it to cover their basic living expenses (Badger).” To even go a little further, according to the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education seventy-three percent of individuals who benefit from assistant programs in the U.S, live in a household where at least one individual is earning/bringing in an income. Even with that income they just cant afford the tedious things such as medial bills, paying for childcare/daycare services, or buying groceries after they receive their paycheck or get done paying all of the other bills that factor into everyday life (Badger). If there was a crack down on the requirements for welfare, yes it may be a little harder to receive but for people who TRULY need it would get it. As long as one can prove that they cannot make all of their bills and provide their family with all of the necessities with the income they have, they should absolutely receive welfare. If you do not have a job you should be given the option to either find a job by a certain deadline, or participate in community service. If half of the individuals who abuse welfare we caught, and forced to

In order to get a job nowadays, many companies require drug testing of their employees. If people out there cannot get a job because they’re on drugs, they shouldn’t be able to receive welfare. As Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, said, "The people that are working are paying the taxes for people on welfare. Shouldn't the welfare people be held to the same standard?" (politifact.com) Also, if applicants are required to pay for drug tests themselves, only to be reimbursed later when they pass, the government won’t lose as much money. Just because someone is paying taxes like the rest of their fellow citizens does not mean they are entitled to receive welfare if they are not qualified. Especially if they are using illegal drugs and cannot guarantee the money wouldn’t be going to a place it shouldn’t

Welfare requirements should be stricter. To help eliminate the people on welfare who don’t actually need help, drug testing should be required for welfare recipients. 20% of people on welfare have used drugs in the past year and 5% admit to having a drug addiction. Drug testing will help in two ways. The first way is by getting addicts help and the second way is to help the government stop wasting money on people who don’t need it. Welfare should not be a lifelong dependency because America cannot afford spending money on people who don’t need help (Vitter 1). Drug testing would help the economy because it would help get drug abusers and low income families help. If we limit who gets what in society we will get better results. If you added certain requirements that had to be passed it would push people to contribute in society. In order to do this, people should be required to work while on welfare.

Perhaps another roadblock put in front of us, as explained in 7 Lies About Welfare by Danica Johnson, is the stigma people give to those of us who are less fortunate. When someone thinks of a person in poverty they think of homelessness at worst, living in subsidized housing at best. They don’t consider that it is not always like that. Some live in their own places and out of all the help provided, maybe they only need to use food stamps. Danica tells how most people do not even know what “welfare” even is, they just think of lazy individuals trying to cash in taxpayer money for luxury items and drugs. They don’t know what their tax dollars go toward, how much of it, and what the programs even do. In fact, most government assisted programs seek to provide only the bare minimum amount of help that an individual or a family need to survive. Also to be noted, most benefit programs require recipients to work at least 30 hours a week in order to be eligible. Sometimes even between 35-50 hours a week for two parent households. In addition, July 2014 Texas began drug testing their welfare applicants

If you have a job and pay taxes, do you ever wonder where your hard earned money ends up? You probably would think that it goes to someone on welfare, who is trying to succeed in their life, trying to make ends meet and might need a little financial help. In other words, someone who really needs it, but unfortunately it usually ends up in the hands of people who take advantage of the welfare system, and takes the opportunity to purchase drugs and/or drug paraphernalia. To avoid situations like this, welfare recipients should be tested monthly for drugs to make sure they are not cheating the welfare system for government aid.

Food Stamps help many people if they need it but there will always be those who abuse the system and leech off of it. According to New York Times SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) or better known as the Food Stamp Program has had many instances in the past and the present where some of their clients abuse their stamps or just don’t need the stamps in general. This government system abuse can be seen in “To Kill A Mockingbird” by Bob Ewell who abuses his relief checks to purchase whiskey instead of using it to provide for his family. There are multiple solutions to this problem such as the state of Maine’s solution and even enforcing the eligibility process.

Individuals in true need of aid were provided the basic necessities to keep them afloat. However, today that has changed. People constantly freeload off of the system, and nobody stops them. People who don’t really need assistance still get welfare checks each month. This should not be allowed to happen. People who receive welfare checks each month spend them on luxuries and unnecessary items. This should not be allowed to happen. Taxpayers are forced to fund a program that does not reduce poverty like it is supposed to. This should not happen. It is time that Americans open their eyes. Government officials, lawmakers, taxpayers, welfare recipients, everyone. They need to open their eyes and take a look at what is happening to

Hi Alvaro Barajas i completely agree with you that america should not get rid of the food stamps and welfares. If the government decides to get rid of the assistance millions of childrens and elderly citizens will be forced to work. I like how you discussed the points from the articles above. I believe welfares are helping to reduce child poverty all over the states. The parts where churches and private organization isn't able to help government is doing a fantastic job by feeding homeless and children's. In article #5 author provides evidences that government programs like tanf,social security and food stamps are being abused by people. However, I don't believe that everyone who gets these benefits are using them in wrong ways. I believe

If a store is committing food stamps fraud, it requires the help of food stamps recipients, but you seldom see them prosecuted. 80% of the financial help available goes to those “few bad apples.” That does not sound like a good taxpayer investment to me. It seems to me the lion share of the money should be spent on the temporarily poor, the poor by circumstances, more than choice. Recently in Georgia there was a terrible case of food stamp fraud. Please remember that the state has given these benefits. These people qualify, however they abuse the system. They have also persuaded these government workers with their false applications. These are what I call “hood-rich” people. They try to get all they can out of the government. Some of these people do not want better for themselves. I know so many people that live in public housing with nice cars, expensive jewelry, designer clothing, and nice non important assets. Most of them do not work and those that do barely do that. Most of them have two or more kids. How can they afford this lifestyle? I work have to work two jobs just to maintain. I have to live at home with my mom because renting is very expensive. Thank God I am continuing my education so I can have a better life for myself. Life is expensive without any children and I am not able to get help. The basically telling that I have to push out a few kids and

The reasons for my opinions is that we shouldn’t drug them, it’s not fair to hold everyone accountable for those that do abuse the system. A lot of them do work, it’s a misconception that they don’t because they are lazy or because they do drugs. I feel this way because I’ve known people who have been on welfare. They’ve never abused it, they actually used it for what the purpose was for.