Where to start?
Way back then, in the straw man day the author kicks over, people worked. And if they chose not to work, they got hungry. And if working people needed a little help for any reason, there was the family, and the neighbors, and the church. And the government didn’t take half of every working man’s paycheck.
Correct. My dad had it rough. His father died before my dad was born. His mother was struggling to raise three boys, in poverty during the 1920s. There was no other family to fall back on, no grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins. They were starving, and would often ask neighbors for food, and neighbors would help by giving a plate of food now and then. His mother got ill and died while the three boys were teens. They survived together by taking any jobs they could get, with the oldest brother holding them together. Hunger is a great incentive for work. As they got older, things got better but they were still poor during the depression. People helped each other back then.
“Way back then, in the straw man day the author kicks over, people worked. And if they chose not to work, they got hungry. And if working people needed a little help for any reason, there was the family, and the neighbors, and the church. And the government didn’t take half of every working man’s paycheck.”
The problem is the author argues in favor assistance for all who want it. In the past, welfare was shame, it came with harsh restrictions and rules. Today they beg you to take it and the shame is gone. People live for generations on the dole and are happy to do it. They do not get subsistence benefits, people learn to live comfortably or at least not uncomfortably. There is no incentive to get off, so the ranks of the useless, lazy moochers increases. Such a system cannot be sustained, but that doesnt matter as long as leftists get to feel good about themselves.