Today’s
society has become a breeding ground for the most out of touch social norms.
People will look back at this time period and wonder how we ever got to this
point. I think the main ways the social norms were obscured are from: accepted
culture, religious misguidance, and no expectations. There are certain programs
that have encouraged this with loosely monitored guidance or enforcement.
The
welfare program was put into legislation by the The Social Security Act of 1935
during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) time in office. The original
intention of these programs were to help needy or under privileged families.
Programs like this were not unheard of in the United States before then. It
just did not have large government organizations in control of them. The very
first program was the British Poor Laws.
“In the early days of the United States, the
colonies imported the British Poor Laws. These laws made a distinction between
those who were unable to work due to their age or physical health and those who
were able-bodied but unemployed. The former group was assisted with cash or
alternative forms of help from the government. The latter group was given
public service employment in workhouses (Welfare Information).”
There
were other programs after the British Poor Laws. One of them would have been
the Civil War Pension Program of 1862. The others had also strived to help with
disabled or unemployed people. All of the programs were created to help or sustain
individuals that were able-bodied for a short time until they found work.
When
FDR created the Social Security Act of 1935, his intentions were the same as
the previous programs. The biggest difference was that he created government
organizations such as Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Labor, the
Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Education. I do not disagree
with any of these services. The part that gets me and probably most other
Americans would be the mismanagement of these programs. FDR once said:
"The
lessons of history, confirmed by evidence immediately before me, show
conclusively that continued dependence on relief induces a spiritual and moral
disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief in this way is to
administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound
policy. It is a violation of the
traditions of America” (Thorner).
This
quote to me was one of those “I told you so moments.” FDR knew the beast this
program could become. He believed that it was up to the individual American to
do his part and not become addicted to these programs or handouts. Especially
not breed it into our culture.
Accepted
culture, to me, is the way people have failed to attempt to change one’s
culture with the times or rely on the “way it has always been done” mindset.
For instance, African American culture is a proud culture. They have so much incredible
history and overcome so many obstacles in their culture. Their history in
Africa is one of the most underappreciated areas of study in world history. They
have survived constant civil war in Africa and slavery in other European
dominated countries. There are many people that have done great things such as
William Edward Burghardt DuBois, Martin Luther King, Jr, and many others
congressmen/congresswomen, authors, and musicians. I think that most modern
African Americans feel they have been oppressed their whole lives because of
their skin color. Social media has continued to portray them as a lower group
in society.
This
is a misconception, because most of society has moved past the skin color
issue. The biggest problem is the fact that people from African American,
Hispanic, Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, and Anglo-Saxon descents have become
lazy. We no longer strive for what we can earn; instead they look for the
handouts. This is slowly becoming the social norm for today’s American Society.
Yes, there are still people striving to make a difference but their work
inhibited by our laziness. A society cannot change overnight or change without
help. We need to change the direction of our cultures from helplessness to
willingness. I am not saying to change everything, but we need to look at
ourselves, communities, and nation, in order to change our direction. We must
not be the generation that destroyed or gave up on America.
“Total number of
Americans on welfare 4,300,000, total number of Americans on food stamps
46,700,000, total number of Americans on unemployment insurance 5,600,000,
percent of the US population on welfare 4.1 %, total government spending on
welfare annually (not including food stamps or unemployment) $131.9 billion.” (Statistic
Brain) I’m not saying that everyone on here abusing it, but when there are that
many people on it there is some abusing the system. If you need it then by all
means, use it, but don’t live on it.
The
next thing is religious misguidance. This is a very touchy subject but people
think that religion is not the way anymore. The thing is that most major
religions have not changed; it is just that the people practicing the religions
have changed the appearance of it in order to fit their needs. No religion
preaches war, murder, or hatred. All of them have been changed to fit a need of
false sense of religious greatness. The biggest example of this would be the
Crusades.
The
Crusades were one of the darkest time periods of Christianity. God’s Will was
used as a slogan for conquest of everything that was not Christian. I doubt
God’s will was ever slaughtering people of other religions, for his name. These
events have casted a dark shadow over the Christian religion. Others have been
the Salem Witch Hunt or Conquistadors in South America or modern day
Westborough Bapisist Church. People have taken items out of context in order to
fit their needs. Religion is about one person seeking his/her own god in order
to satisfy their own internal needs of happiness. Its other purpose is to help the
needy. A lot of this is done by privately run, religiously backed organization
that put on soup drives and help needing families with clothing, food, and
housing. This is the way the countries and people previously helped the poor,
not government run programs.
The
last thing is no expectations. If no one has any expectations of me, why would
I strive to become anything? Our government has strived to become more and more
prevalent in our lives. To me it is the hidden agenda of servitude. If an
enough people are reliant on a person or group, they can control them by
controlling access to their natural needs. The example of this would be our
large group of people on welfare. “Nearly half (49.1 percent) of the American
population lives in households that received some form of government benefit in
the first quarter of 2011.”(Damon)
I think that welfare is needed, but needs to
be monitored. Its true purpose was to fill the gaps of unemployment or provide
for the incapable, not to sustain a person’s inability to function as an
essential part of the work force. This ideology of welfare living is passed on
to children and eventually other generations. It becomes the social norm and
almost a culture in of itself. Things continue to get worse because there are
no repercussions for not working. There are people that live more comfortably
than I do because of welfare checks, government housing, and food stamps. Not
that I am envious of that lifestyle; I am proud to go to work every day and
provide for my family. This is a social concept that has been lost on up and
coming generations.
Our
country is a great country and has always been. The time is now to make people
and their social norms strive to become better. This cannot be done by our
government, only by individual choices. Everything I have said can be changed
by a simple step in each person taking care of himself and by helping his
neighbors. Not doing it for them.
References
Damon, Andre. "Half of
Americans in households receiving government aid." World Socialist
Website. International Committee of the Fourth International, 07 2012. Web.
7 Dec 2012. <http://www.wsws.org/articles/2012/jun2012/soci-j07.shtml>.
.
"US Welfare System." Welfare Information. Welfareinfo.org,
n.d. Web. 7 Dec 2012. <http://www.welfareinfo.org/history/>.
.
Welfare Statistics. Statistic Brain. October 15 2012 . Web. 7 December 2012.
http://www.statisticbrain.com/welfare-statistics/
http://www.statisticbrain.com/welfare-statistics/
