How much more humane it would have been if these programs had never started in the first place.
Excellent point that is often overlooked.
The unfortunate “deserving poor” who get this welfare are much more likely, now (after years on the dole) to be psychologically dependent ON it. So, cutting it will cause them real pain for awhile — pain they would likely have already surmounted long ago if these programs were not so “generous.”
And private charities will — for awhile, at least — be LESS able to take up the slack, and the reason why? Fewer folks DONATE now to private charities, in less amounts, because “I can’t afford to, after all the taxes” and/or “I could, but isn’t that what I pay taxes for?” attitudes.