Entitlement Spending

"We shouldn't be paying people to do nothing, everyone should have to work for what they get."

I guess the best place to start this is to say that people don't starve to death, when there are people with food around.  I mean to say that the drive to stay alive will force the starving to lie, cheat, and steal if need be, in order to procure a meal.  So, providing for a minimal existence to those who can't or won't work is self preservation, or rather an effort to keep them from becoming criminals.

The problem with every entitlement program I have ever reviewed, is that none of them are designed to get people off of them.  They are hand-outs, rather than hand-ups.  They merely provide these needy folk only enough to barely scrape an existence out, which insures they will continue to need help, forever.  I only ask Conservatives to be aware of the fact that there is no one 'thriving' with or on Food Stamps, Welfare, Social Security, or Medicare.

Republicans can't or won't accept higher taxes, even when we are faced with a huge deficit.  Their solution is to cut spending, and their first priority is to do so to entitlements.  Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare are over a third of our budget.  We pay this price because we decided as a society that we should provide for those who are not able to care for themselves.  While I have no problem with attempting to identify waste and abuse within these areas, cutting spending here, won't do that.  You'd have to raise revenue to fund such an endeavor, which may or may not pay for itself.  Cutting spend here is only going to squeeze those who can least afford to be taken from.

I don't understand what is compassionate about suggesting that we should provide the old and disabled with an even worse lifestyle, as though they are living high on the hog now.  In my mind, this is an area impossible to cut spending without endangering actual lives.  We are all going to grow old, and eventually we will all need to be cared for and looked after.  Do we all deserve to live off of hotdogs and mac & cheese, during this time, or are the old and disabled entitled to even less?

These safety nets are designed to catch those in need from hitting rock-bottom, and at present the nets are suffering gaping holes, that aren't catching their intended game.  Cutting spending to these programs will only see more financial pain among those who already suffer the most.