OK, so writing the post about health care which shifted into social programs reminded me of my Wal-mart days. When I worked at Wal-mart, I saw all types, but I think the ones who burned me the most were the people using government assistance because they can't afford 5+ kids.
I don't know if they did it because they love kids or if they wanted more of them to leech off "the system" and get more assistance or if birth control pills are just a religious no-no. I think in one instance it was the birth control thing...which got me to thinking.
I firmly believe that government should not in any way, shape, or form, endorse, support, or otherwise favor, any religion (boy, that sure was a lot of commas).
I also believe in social programs and that, while sometimes abused, they are more often helpful than not and are integral to an advanced and wealthy society such as ours.
However - I think that we should potentially start encouraging smaller families so we don't end up with the China problem.
This is, in my unresearched opinion, quite easy to do. The number of private farms is falling (historically farmers had lots of children to help on the farm), people are living longer, and on the whole we don't need the birth rate to be as high. Most people do this on their own and only have as many children as they can afford, or only as many as replaces them (1 per person). So, where there is more education and better job opportunity, there are fewer children - mostly the middle and upper class.
In the lower class, those with less education and lower income (as illogical as that seems) tend to have more children. I don't know why exactly, but it has to do with birth control - affording it and knowing how to use it - religion, and sometimes welfare.
I will skip the education portion. I will also skip religion for now and address the welfare issue. I have not personally looked up how much more a person receives per child in food stamps but I know it does increase. That's only logical - it costs more to add extra food to the table. However, I think it is morally wrong to have another child simply to increase the amount of help one receives. It's just a bad reason to make a baby!
As for religion, there are still some stricter ones that frown on birth control. If this is indeed true, then I think it is the duty of the church to provide for the parishioners. Why should the government support a large family that has not chosen to use birth control because they are not allowed by their religious views? This is where I begin to draw the line for government assistance.
Unless you're Fertile Myrtle who gets pregnant every time she has sex despite using birth control, you have a duty to uphold. Every time you have sex, there is a possibility of creating a life. It is your duty as a future parent to make sure that you have made a conscious choice to have a child and can then also provide for that child. Yes, accidents happen, and those are not the people to who I am speaking. I am instead speaking to those who choose to create a life knowing that there is absolutely no way they can afford to support.
That's where I start thinking about my life and how we have chosen to wait for a baby so we are better able to afford one.
That's also when I began to resent those who came through my line with a food stamp card and 8 kids.
That's when I began to think that maybe federal assistance should have a cap, and if it already has one, perhaps it should be lower.
Studies would have to be done to make sure this is more fair than not, but let's put a cap of 4 people on that food stamp card. OK, you can have as many kids as you want and we won't restrict it, but we will only support 4 of you. That can be 1 parent and 3 kids, or it can be 2 parents and 2 kids, but 4 is the limit. This would encourage those who would otherwise abuse the system to stop popping out paychecks and churches to support (monetarily as well as morally) their own doctrine.
I am willing to share what I make in taxes so that people who are less fortunate can enjoy such benefits as food...but there is a limit to my kindness, dammit!
Discussion for next time: Is our society rife with the "You-owe-me" attitude, and if so, why and how can we fix it?
No comments:
Post a Comment