Welfare Case

For as long as there has been the United States, Americans have always been compassionate and committed to helping others. When you look at the wars and major conflicts of this country's past, you will find that there are numerous examples that the United States' involvement was to aid other countries or other people. The United States has continued to lead from the front when it comes to providing aid for countries that fell victim to natural disasters from the tsunami in Asia to the earthquake in Haiti. Our generosity and good will doesn't stop there. For countries who are unable to defend themselves or who, because of economic status, are unable to fund their own militaries for their own protection and safety, the U.S. has aided by providing funding, weapons, food, and training in order to help the country in need survive on their own. Training and teaching is another form of aid as just mentioned and often times, more powerful than any other. Even when looking back at the early settlers and the Indian tribes whereby each taught the other how to plant, farm, and hunt in an effort to assist the other to become more independent. This form of aid builds relationships of trust and support.

Our welfare system follows this same them of helping other through monetary aid and training. So this behavior isn't anything new or different than what this nation has been doing for over 200 years. With that; however, just like in earlier times, there are critics. You can almost always count on an opposing view to anything one does. If a person decides to take the freeway to go from point A to point B, surely, there will be someone else who would feel that staying off of the freeway is the best way to get from point A to point B. Ironically, there are valid and extremely reasonable justifications for both. The problem is that you can't drive from one location to the next using two different routes at the same time. The same logic holds true for the welfare system. Even when compromise is reached, there will still be opposition. The welfare system we have in place isn't perfect and never has been. Some of the biggest arguments against it is that the system is abused and that the recipients of the benefits from the program become dependent on them and will always require and expect the assistance. But, in order to truly understand more of where we are today and some of the opposing opinions, we'll go back to the beginning of welfare.

Welfare, as we know it, was originally enacted under President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935. At that time it was called the Social Security Act. It was first amended in 1939, which instituted several programs; of which, unemployment compensation and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) are two of the continued programs.

Welfare is defined as "aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need". With the massive spending and