November 2, 2016

Dear Mr. or Mrs. President,

The nation is not perfect, and there no way for it ever to be. There’s really nothing we can do. Humans by nature are faulty. We fall down… a lot. Still we always try to get back up, and, also by nature, we try to help lift up others who cannot do it on their own. This is not a bad thing. It is, in fact, a great thing to want to help others in whatever way we can when they are incapable themselves. But is there a point where we do so much lifting that we actually do them harm?

The welfare system is the United States started taking effect after the Great Depression, as your predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, started enacting the New Deal. These systems were created to help the nation recover from the worldwide depression. At the time, many of these systems were needed, to an extent, to get the nation, and its citizens, back on their feet. However, the country has recovered from the depression and has learned how to prevent such a depression from happening again. We no longer have dire need of these programs.

In theory, the welfare system could be very effective in helping those who are in need of it. It can help those who are struggling to find a job to support their family to be able to survive. It can help those who are struggling to get through life or living paycheck to paycheck receive their basic needs. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, it is our duty to help our fellow man get to a point of security so that they can take part of the human right to have peace and happiness. So, yes, the welfare system can be very helpful. However, the system is changing from a means of helping people get back on their feet to a system that carries those people on the backs of others.

The welfare system takes away the ability to become self-sufficient. There is no element of the system that teaches those eligible to be able to get to a point where they no longer need to be on welfare and how to survive without it. They are just given the access to what they need and then are told to go on living life, having to depend on welfare. They need to be shown how to use the time that they are on welfare to get a sturdy foundation on their lives. This would mean putting together a plan of employment and a budget to fit their circumstances. Then, as they got to a point where they can survive without the system, they would be able to get through life and thrive without being dependent on others, which is a foundational goal of american society. We all want to live without having to depend on anyone other than ourselves, one of the important reasons our founding fathers fought for our independence against the British.

Also, there is not an efficient way of regulating how the resources of welfare are used. Many people use their food stamps to buy food that do not fall under the category of necessity. I have seen people use their food stamps to buy chips, beer, and beef jerky for a hunting trip. If these people go on using these resources, that should be used to get their needs, to get their wants, then they are going to struggle to get through life when they no longer have access to welfare. They will be so accustomed to getting these non-necessities that they will not be able to regulate how they spend their money and will fall back into the place they were before. There needs to be regulation on what can be bought with food stamps, such as milk, fruits, vegetables, and bread. If these regulations were set into place, then those on welfare would know how to live their lives successfully when not relying on the system.

We need have this system fixed. It needs a reform. It would be very beneficial to set up what I have suggested. We need to set up ways to teach people to become self-sufficient. We need to set up restrictions on what the resources can be used for. There are many things that can be done to fix this struggling system. They just need to be enacted.

The welfare system is not bad. It is a good way to help those who are struggling. However, we can not just stop there. We need to help them live a life that is their own, free and independent of others. It is our duty to not only help those who cannot help themselves, but to also help them get to a point where they can.

Sincerely,

Emily Z.

Billings, Montana