Virtually EVERY conservative policy analyst, such as Charles Murray and Walter Williams, have agreed that by far the worst aspect of welfare was AFDC. Now, whether or not you think foodstamps are wrong, well . . . . Think what you want, but if you think that any candidate is going to run on ending all foodstamps, you're delusional.
I can't think of any genuine politicians---maybe Ron Paul---who would support this. Certainly any Christian politicians would have trouble denying government aid to the truly needy. Even Reagan advocated a "safety net."
Much of the Border region is extremely poor. As of 1995, more than a quarter of the Border counties, or 11 of 43, fell into the poorest 1 percent of all counties in the U.S., with per-capita incomes of less than $10,840. The region contained three of the nation's five poorest counties: Maverick, Starr, and Zavala.4 Twenty-two of the 43 counties, more than half, ranked in the poorest 10 percent of all counties with per-capita personal income of less than $13,914. At the other end of the scale, the Border region did not have a single county ranked in the top 10 percent of the nation's income distribution.
Also notable is the level of public as opposed to private sector economic activity in the region. Nearly one-quarter of the personal income of the Border region, 22.5 percent, came from transfer payments in 1995, compared to 16.8 percent for the nation and 15.2 percent for all of Texas. In addition, military and civilian governmental employees generated 26.4 percent of the personal income in the Border region the same year, compared to 23.5 percent for the U.S. and 20.9 percent for Texas. As a result, the private economy, including farms, generated only 51 percent of the personal income in the Border region, considerably behind the 59.7 percent accounted for by the private sector in the national economy and the 63.9 percent for Texas. If current trends hold true, then non-wage income, including transfer payments, is expected to surpass wage income in the Border region as the leading source of household income by 2020.
Despite these troubling numbers, it can be argued that the Border region is not unique in its poverty--even within the U.S. In this century, among the most recognized impoverished areas has been the sprawling Appalachia region, encompassing 399 counties in 13 states stretching from Mississippi to New York. In the late 1960s, in fact, the Appalachia region was by some measures more poverty-stricken than the Texas Border today. However, the Texas Border region has been "catching up," and even surpassing, Appalachia in its poverty.