Aww SNAP - My rant about welfare.

WELFARE WELFARE WELFARE... Otherwise known as SNAP/LINK. It seems that the general population wants to be Judge Jury and Executioner when it comes to regulations in regards to this. The problem is that our Judges seem to have gone straight from grade school into their self entitled chairs.

Stupidity seeps from their pores like a broken hydrant. It trickles into our water system and we drink it up like it's kool-aid. We feed it to our children, because most of us don't know any better. It has no scent, no color.. It's form is undetectable unless you know what you're looking for. I have learned to catch it by that faint bitter taste it leaves in your mouth.

We should do drug tests on everyone receiving state benefits, because that isn't profiling at all!! Clearly EVERYONE on state aid does drugs. Obviously drug dealers have a little black book of welfare recipients that they call when their shipments come in. They also ALL live on the West side of Rockford and have 8 kids by 40 men, none of which pay child support. 15 of them are in jail for selling drugs, 10 for using drugs, 8 for murder and 7 for prostitution. Not only does that ignorant scenario profile our entire population, but it degrades every single hard working person that finds themselves in a bad place. Good people would rather die in a ditch than find themselves at the State aid office because they are ashamed of what people will say, and they don't want to be categorized with the harsh judgments from people who have no place to judge.

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The fact is, drug testing people on state aid will cost more than it will save. The fact is, drug abusers need to eat too. I don't condone it, nor am I an advocate for them. I am however an advocate for the children that are brought into this world by said drug abusers. Just because their parents aren't upstanding citizens doesn't mean that the kids should go without. We could rip those kids from the household.. That just starts another state issue that I won't even get into. The sad fact is that if the kids have food and a place to sleep, those kids won't be taken. Do we punish those kids for their parents bad decisions and take away their meals? Wouldn't that make us child abusers? The truth is, there are many people on drugs that hold steady jobs and aren't on state aid. Just as there will always be users that are.

 In the case that we did drug test every welfare recipient, those that test positive would start another whirlwind of problems for the state. We'd have to remove the kids. Taking their kids away when they test dirty costs money. Feeding/housing those kids after they are taken costs money. Cutting their benefits makes them more likely to steal/kill in desperate times, which costs not only the state, but us too more money. Mandatory rehab? Sure, but who's going to pay for that? The state..  Sadly, there are probably drug abusers that are more caring/attentive parents than half of the wealthy/stable adults. Not every poor person is a drug user, and not every rich person is wonderful and clean. Let's keep profiling, because it makes everything better.

The second thing our wonderful judges like to talk about is limiting what they can buy with those benefits. Bread. milk, cereal and peanut butter.. Those are the ones I've heard the most. Would we tell a war vet receiving benefits after getting his legs blown off in a war that he can only eat cereal and peanut butter for the rest of his life? Would we tell an adult with Down syndrome that tries to make it on their own but can't find a job that pays more than minimum wage, part time that it's all they can have? Would we look a 6 year old in the eye that wants a mini bag of cookies for lunch so as to blend into their peers and tell them that they have to bring a bag of dry cereal to school for a snack because their parents are broke and receive benefits? If you answered NO to any of those questions then you can't pick and choose your bias and give them rights, but cut off the rest. Stop joining the masses of mindless followers. Furthermore, if the state gives you $200 a month for groceries and you spend it on groceries, that's all we need to know. Peoples eating habits are none of our business. A homeless person doesn't have the luxury of gas to cook or a fridge to store things. They can't prepare these "nutritious" meals that you blind sheep speak of.

Drug testing and limiting the items you can purchase are not going to solve the fraud problem. Solving the problem starts from within.

1	$ 1,211	$1,862
2	$ 1,640	$2,522
3	$ 2,069	$3,182
4	$ 2,498	$3,842
5	$ 2,927	$4,502
6	$ 3,356	$5,162
7	$ 3,785	$5,822
8	$ 4,214	$6,482
9	$ 4,643	$7,142
10	$ 5,072	$7,802

This is the chart they use to determine what benefits you can have. Column one is for people under 60 and column 2 is for 60+ or disabled. I personally know people both single and/or parents with one child that make as much as my household does (we don't come close to qualifying) and also get state aid. One in specific is single, lives in a 3 bedroom house and drives a brand new Civic. How exactly did she manage to get that card? People not doing their jobs. They tell you to bring proof of income. If you walk in and say you have none, they don't even question you. 

There lies the first problem to be fixed. Solution? Link up with the IRS, or something similiar that tracks our income each year. Computers are magical! An automatic kickback of anything that doesn't match. Throw those files into a queue and have someone review those files and hit the CANCEL BENEFITS button when you've lied. Automatic 5 year revoke of benefits. The program and link up process would cost a lot of money, but I firmly believe that it would pay itself back within a year. You have to spend money to make money. Make the state take accountability first. The people who abuse the system are not honest people and we can't count on them to tell the truth. Force it from within. Let the truth speak for itself. No exceptions. You lie, you lose. 

Second step. Pictures and state ID/license numbers on every card. Make it mandatory just like buying cigarettes that the store reference both your license/ID and your Link card. Fine that store when they don't. The threat of it and the thought that any person could be someone to check for compliance will make every store watch a little more closely. No match, no food. Scum will be a little less likely to take someones grocery list and do their shopping for them in return for a small amount of cash that they normally sell the cards for. If that's what they choose to do, we can't and will NEVER be able to stop that from happening. 

Step three. Disabled and Seniors in need get a lifetime card that never needs to be renewed. 99/99/99 just like prescriptions. People with jobs in need of help have 6 months. At that 6 month period their case is reviewed and if they haven't submitted the proper documentation of proof of pay ect, benefits are cut until they do. People with no jobs are treated like unemployment. Same system. If proper documentation isn't turned in with current job searches, cut off. Done. Maximum of one year with no proof of work. 

Will it stop fraud completely? No. Nothing ever will. The smarter technology gets, the dumber people controlling the computers get. All you can really do is put steps in place to bring the lazy and dishonest to their knees while supporting those with good intentions. 

In closing, I'd like to point out that according to the states chart, I'd have to birth 5 or 6 more kids to even qualify for $200 a month. I'm definitely not living in poverty, but I can safely say that I couldn't afford 7 kids with my households income and $200 a month wouldn't make a lick of a difference.