More people are waking up to the concept that welfare isn’t free.
Handouts are taken from someone who earned them, to give to someone who didn’t. Working to pay the government half of your check doesn’t seem very American.
It’s become increasingly difficult for the common man to afford day-to-day expenses like groceries and gas. Meanwhile, the rising cost of living and inflation drive increasing property and sales tax rates to cover the costs of government services.
Services are different from welfare. When I say welfare, I mean benefits like food stamps. During the government shutdown, a litany of social media videos showed people talking about their entitlements and demonstrating, clearly, the state of affairs in America.
It was appalling. A sick and twisted turn in America’s fate. A nation of entitled slobs. The videos showed people gaming the system, declaring their right to their handouts, and inciting violence and theft if they didn’t get it. One woman even declared to the American taxpayer, “you work for me. How can I be expected to work? I got kids.”
Fast forward, the government shutdown ends. Thanksgiving approaches. I walk around the streets of Cheyenne and I see Toys for Tots boxes in the various businesses. Adopt-a-family sign-up sheets adorn the local community meeting spot in a small town nearby. The list contains the ages and genders of those in the family, and may include mom and dad.
On the local Facebook page, county residents make posts offering extra premade casseroles out of the freezer, meal kits with extra cans of corn and boxes of stuffing and words of encouragement about hard circumstances instead of shame. Over the weekend, Friday Food Bag Foundation posted to the Cheyenne Community Connections page, “Free potatoes, onions and carrots. Bring your own bags and take as much as you can use.” The background picture showed lines of boxes and bags.
Abundance being shared: so much to be thankful for.
I’m reminded what the distinction between welfare and entitlements are.
Welfare, in the 14th century meant one’s good fortune, health and exemption from evil. This changed in the 19th and early 20th centuries as public assistance became a role the government took over from the private charities, which had historically helped to ensure that people fared well. Welfare was holistic, community-driven and just as much emotional and spiritual as it was physical.
The shift of society away from the church-based and community associations and toward the government was no good for our fellow man. Adding fuel to the fire were the rapid technological advances that made us distant, isolated, and serotonin-addicted.
This has addled people’s ability to engage in real conversation or romance.
I don’t think this is slowing down. Artificial Intelligence will create a reality that desensitizes us from the real world completely. This inevitability is not something that everyone concedes, but I believe it is felt by most, subconsciously, as they gravitate toward what matters.
Society is turning back to the old ways in many respects. Some of us pursue it with a slow, quiet life with our families. A focus on God and country. Some in the country or with a few animals. Some with a few kids and a compact car.
I am encouraged about society’s pivot toward community-based resources and organic human contact. It is time we take care of one another.
Tap into a local church, community event or friend group. Clean out your home and give to those in need. Bake, visit, pray. Don’t be afraid to offer people more than they ask for, because most of them won’t ask. That’s not just money. It’s connection and peace.
It’s an understanding that if we all chase the stuff to the end of the race, all that we’ll have to show for it are empty boxes and ripped paper on the ground.
Politics has us so spun up about whose fault it is that the entitlements stopped, we forgot what welfare is all about.
There was a beautiful story about Buffalo’s Clear Creek Wood Bank that couldn’t demonstrate this any better. “He was an old veteran and when they showed up and knocked on his door, he just started crying.”
We are one body. Work harder to feed it, clothe it and keep it warm. If we do not, we cut our nose to spite our face.
Cowboy State Daily columnist Cassie Craven is a University of Wyoming College of Law graduate who practices law in Wyoming. She can be reached at: longhornwritingllc@gmail.com
