FB #4

Free Blog #4

            This government class has given me a chance to think about political topics and the way that our government works more than I would if I were not taking this class.  One thing that comes to mind is the welfare system.  When I was living in California, I was extremely bothered by a specific situation that I saw when I was in college in Chico, California.  I was sitting in a county office, where a woman was filling out her paperwork for welfare and I was changing my address when I moved.  Anyways, she was told that her money was going to run out soon and that her benefits were going to be reduced from what they currently were.  Her comment was, “well, I guess it’s just time to have another kid.”  I was so disgusted at what I heard; I finished my business and left the office.  I am afraid that is how too many people take the welfare benefits.  When I moved to Texas, I worked at a doctor’s office, and I had a lot of people who were on Medicaid.  They received all their visits for free, but if they had a no-show fee, they would have to pay a $25 fee.  So, when I asked to collect the fee for some of those patients, they said they couldn’t pay it because they had to buy their beer or their cigarettes.

            My recommendation to try and stop the abuse for the welfare system is to require those who are not working and collecting money to volunteer 40 hours a week (to simulate a 40-hour a week job), and also to require bi-monthly drug tests.  This would mean that in order for the welfare recipients to pick up their money, they would have to turn in a “time sheet” of their volunteer hours and also take a negative drug test.  I think this would make sure that people are not abusing the system and doing essentially a “checks and balances” on the system.    Checks and balances, according to our textbook, are “an arrangement whereby each branch of government has some power to limit the actions of other branches” (Newell, p. 524).    If these two recommendations were put in place, it could be possible that the program could be cleaned up a bit and there might be less fraud in the program. 

            I appreciate the opportunity for these free blogs.  It gives me the opportunity to put my ideas out on paper whereas I probably would not have done so otherwise.

Bibliography

Newell, Prindle, Riddlesperger.  Texas Politics, 11th edition.  Wadsworth Cengage Learning.  2011.