"A 'welfare queen' may breed brats, it's true, but she also raises future citizens like all others - flawed and aspiring toward something better." - Mary Childers.

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Here I am, years beyond the days when my mother periodically relied on welfare to raise her three children, when our lives were a patchwork quilt of making do and scraping by. Years later, but there's still a shame that smoulders.

 

In the midst of classmates and neighbors who seemed to have so much in comparison, the urge to avoid scrutiny was very strong. To avoid the patricular shame of having less, and thus being perceived as less-than.

One of the trickiest things to do is to hide something you don't have. Childhood was one long feint to keep others from grasping the extent of our need, a long effort to keep derision and judgement at bay.

Growing up in poverty has made me sensitive to that particular subject.
The villainization of the welfare poor is all too often par for the course. It's easy to heave them to the top of the scapegoat pile. They serve as convenient fall guys for some of society's more unkind diatribes.

The fact that it was an ongoing mental health problem that afflicted her further marginilized my mother. Poor and crazy. Decidedly wretched, considered from all angles.

I've been employed all of my adult life and live in circumstances immeasurably more comfortable than the ones from before, but it hasn't been enough to insulate me, or bring about forgetfulness. It still makes me burn, the scapegoating of the poor, and hearing the vehemence enter into otherwise regular peoples' voices at the mere mention of welfare. Or especially that double-whammy of a term 'welfare mother.'

The topic comes up and people chime in with the inevitable stories: about people they've seen who are clearly stupid or lazy and don't deserve welfare, people who have too many kids or others who were 'wasting money' -- then there's that elusive, especially demonic category of bum who secretly has hidden assets that would put the common man's hard-won luxuries to shame! (You know - the woman in pearls, driving her Lexus down to pick up the dole cheque).

None of us want to be helpless, left alone with kids, or dependent on the government for any reason, so does that explain much of the hatred in reactions to people who receive welfare?

Perhaps we all live in fear of the worst case scenario - the idea that it could be us. So we inadvertantly create a Monster, the welfare ogre. The welfare queen, KFC drumstick in one hand and the other in your pocket.

The cliches about poverty and welfare nevertheless retain their power to shame. Such stereotypes persist although the gamut of people assisted by social welfare programmes include assisted living facilities and support networks for the mentally ill, disabled, developmentally disabled, and poor elderly people without anyone to care for them.

As much as some might loathe (or take perverse comfort in) the cliches, the average person on welfare thinks it is a shit situation too, and they would like out. But despite whatever bootstrap-capitalist, half-assed Horatio Alger notions we all dream of, sometimes it's not possible to get out from the welfare system, or at least not quickly.

I don't know why it is said with such assurance that the welfare poor do not "want" to work. Often circumstances have made it so traditional employment is not even a realistic option. There's scant incentive to remain on welfare. It means scraping by, with no luxuries or even the smallest little extras to take the edge off. The pride of earning one's own money (however much it is) and just being a part of the 'working world' is immeasurably better than what is received on assistance.

I do acknowledge that welfare turns into a hammock instead of a safety net, for some. However, even in the face of that fact I would rather live in a world with empathy and resources for even the lowest on the totem.

Why do we pick apart others' lives, particularly when it is a demographic so powerless? Is it to throw our own perceived "righteousness" into relief? God save us from the righteous fury that can be summoned over welfare spending, this tiny fraction of our taxes.

I only wish such outrage could be summoned over the distribution of tax dollars for more draining outlays without even a modicum of social benefit. Waste and bureaucratic profligacy abound in all aspects of government spending. The  public dollar underwrites all manner of corporate cushioning. We're all ripped off every day by a duplicitous government with little interest in safety and sustenance, both for us and the world we're part of.

We must guard to make sure we are not manipulated into attacking any of our hard-won social safety net programmes. Our frustration can best provide the impetus to look at our perceived social problems more thoughtfully.

 

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_{Welfare spending, per federal tax dollar, Canada and U.S.A.:}

_{2006 figures (Canada): 3½ cents (via the Dept. of Finance, http://www.fin.gc.ca).}

_{2006 figures (U.S.A.): as near as I can figure between 2 - 4.4 cents of every federal tax dollar goes directly to welfare (http://www.usa.gov).}