Beyond this, imposing a lifetime limit of five years will keep people working. We insist that people on welfare work, not as a punitive measure, but because that which is earned means so much more to the individual. The Republican plan revises the Work Pays Program by requiring recipients to spend at least 30 hours per week in productive activities including job hunting, basic education, vocational training and community service. Job creation and welfare reform are inseparable issues. Unfortunately, those who now say that welfare reform will not work because of too few jobs are the same liberals who increased taxes, built dictatorial bureaucracies, imposed too many regulations and promoted lawsuit abuse which has killed off job creators.
Liberals attack welfare reform as heartless and mean spirited.
It is hard to imagine, however, a system more lacking in compassion or positive results than welfare as we have known it. The current system, designed by government, is cold and impersonal. Helping people back to self-sufficiency is secondary to the paperwork which measures success by how few errors occur in the bureaucratic process of handing out checks. It truly lacks compassion and robs children not only of their American birthright of freedom and independence, but their humanity as well. Nothing could be more compassionate than doing away with the current welfare system, which condemns children to a lifetime of dependency, illegitimacy and a breakdown of family.