Where Politics And Video Games Collide

I think I will chime in on the whole welfare debate going on here.

I am by no means incapable. I have no disabilities and am fairly inteligent. I am able to provide for my family. I can buy them food, insurance etc.

But that was not always the case. Shortly after getting married, I started going to scool full time and working full time (mostly). The only job I was able to get that fit around my class schedule was a $10 an hour job. I was living in Arizona at the time and living expenses are pretty high ther. My two bedroom apartment was running at $650 (the cheepest for the size). My wife was pregnant and we were a one car family. My wife was unable to work so I was supporting my family completely. My paycheck went completely to bills. We had no money left over for food or insurance. So we had to go with food stamps and medicare to beable to provide for my family. Had I opted not to get medicare and went with the insurance through my work, I would not have been able to pay all my bills.

During this time I had two kids and only a dollar raise at my job. So my situation did not improve. Sure I could have quit school and looked for a better job, but that would have severely limited my long term prospects.

Long story short, had it not been for food stamps and medicare, I would not be in the position I am in now after graduating. I am able to buy a house, insurance and plenty of food for my family. Had I opted to quit school to get my family off those programs, I am not sure what I would be doing, but I doubt that it would be anything as nice as I have now.

Now I am not the norm. When I was in the DES office waiting to turn in paperwork and such, there were plenty of people who were either incapable or unwilling to better their own circumstances. We even over heard conversations between people about how to scam the system. That is th kind of stuff that made me sick.

But still there are plenty of people like me who are working to better their life and the life of their family but need temporary assistance. That is what these programs are supposed to be for. They are supposed to be a temporary solution. But abusers have turned it into their only means of provision.

I don't think that those programs need to be dumped. They are important. But I do think that they need to be switched to state run programs and have the federal government get their noses out of it.