“Continued dependence upon welfare induces a spiritual disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole our relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit.”
The words were spoken by a President during a State of the Union Address. Who said it? Some conservative fundamentalist? Nope.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1935, just as the nation was beginning to pull itself out of the depression.
Pat Buchanan has a very thoughtful column on his website about government programs and the Katrina disaster. Not the disaster of the hurricane itself, but of the situation brought on by many people in New Orleans.
He makes a point that the Sri Lankans and Indonesians who are much poorer than even the poorest in New Orleans, did not behave as badly as some of the people in NOLA.
Food for thought.
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