Posted on 07/21/2014 7:29:32 AM PDT by CharlesOConnell
NY Post Columnist: Sense Of Shame Is Gone For Entitlement Recipients
New York Post columnist Michael Goodwin appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss the increase in food stamp recipients and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomos refusal to allow New York City to fingerprint residents who receive nutritional assistance to root out fraud. Goodwin said recipients of food stamps have ballooned while barriers to entry into the program have decreased; as a result, the the sense of shame among entitlement recipients is gone.
Shame used to be part of this, said Goodwin referring to the culture that used to accompany applying for and receiving government assistance. Now we look at it weve seen this explosion of entitlements and the sense of shame is gone.
Goodwin says that under Presidents Bush and Obama the food stamp rolls have exploded. Recently, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was blocked in an attempt to fingerprint food stamp recipients by Gov. Cuomo.
New York City has added 600,000 people to the food stamp rolls in the last four years and thats not enough, said Goodwin. There are those who say fingerprinting is a stigma, its a barrier and, as Bloomberg says, well its not keeping many people away if weve added 600,000 in the last four years.
So you argue that come and get it could be the new national motto in this country, said co-host Gretchen Carlson.
The people arguing this are basically saying, forget the shame. Its yournot only your right to get what you can from the government, its your obligation, Goodwin continued. The New York Times editorial page, talking about ending the fingerprinting, says, think of all the people who would get food stampsthats a lot of money for New York City. As though this is the role of the citizen to go out and get as much federal money as you can and spend it like a stimulus program.
I recall reading an article from about 1967, gainfully employed minority people were told, "Don't keep that job, just go down to the welfare office, they'll pay you not to work."
I think people stuck as dependents of the entitlement state are fully aware of what a vicious cycle they're in. The real tragedy is that they're discouraged from the opportunity to be philanthropic to others. At the same time that I'm destitute, I run a small, self-funded charity that has given baby showers to 150 Moms who have chosen life since 2009.
I read part of a book about charity written by someone on the religious left. The most important principle is that the poorer someone truly is, the quicker they are to find someone even poorer, to share with.
Mother Theresa took a bag of rice to a desperately poor Hindu woman. She couldn't wait, even to finish properly thanking Mother Theresa, before she excused herself, put half the rice that her starving family needed into another bag, went out the back door to her Muslim neighbor's house who was even poorer than her family, to give her half the rice.
The Widow who gave the Two Mites (smaller than pennies) to the Temple Treasury, in our Blessed Lord's judgment, gave more than all the King Croesus', Medicis, Roth Schilds, JP Morgans, JD Rockefellers, Warren Buffets, Bill Gates' and George Soros' put together. That Widow shames me.
tyrannical governments turn citizens into their victims, this current US government is following that rule.
Replaced with a sense of pride about how much "free" stuff one can get.
I got fingerprinted for a driver’s license.
Didn’t care for that, but if taxpaying people get fingerprinted, certainly tax consuming people should be.
Not really interested if those like Cuomo are shamed or not. Make them accountable for creating this mess by throwing them in prison. They will have the welfare they subject the people to. Just not what they are use to. Make them pay back all the money they have mishandled and stolen from the people, ban them from ever entering anything connected to politics.
Just once I would like to hear a reporter ask about these welfare programs or the influx of illegal ‘children’ this question: “Is this sustainable?”
They told us how easy Obama Phones were to get and thought we were crazy not to apply for the "free" phone. We told them the phone weren't free as even our TracFones carried a small surcharge to pay for them.
It’s not about sustainability,
it’s about liberals’ sense of self righteousness.
You go talking about taking that away, and they get their backs up real quick.
I don't, not for one minute. The Majority of those dependents are breed into the system from 3-5 generations of parisites. They don't see it as anyting other than their right to lay around and get free stuff.
It is amazing that anyone can think moving money from one place to another through a very expensive government bureaucracy (shaving off 50-75%) is some kind of economic boon.
“...not only your right to get what you can from the government...”
How does a person have a ‘right’ to something they DID NOT earn and have no intention of repaying?
I’ve noticed that people who use EBT cards still try to hide what they’re using.
NOPE!
Shame is not just a tool for the elimination of the welfare state, but to force homosexuality out of the mainstream, marginalize promiscuity and irresponsible sex, and enforce sane social norms. Certain behaviors that are destructive to a society can be justifiably shunned.
That Obama phone idiot looks well-fed!
“Thou shall not steal” is “written on their hearts”,
not matter what the left tries to do, that’s always going to be there.
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