Welfare cuts: Mean-spirited and misguided

Sam Bowler, Las Vegas

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

Regarding the article by Timothy Pratt in Friday’s Las Vegas Sun, “Nevada’s poor will have to tighten belts more if food stamp, welfare cuts OK’d”:

Hacking away at the welfare subsidy to reduce state spending is idiocy and just mean-spirited. What kind of thinking is it to take away more from those who have not? If you live in this country, it is your responsibility to take care of the less fortunate. Many Americans are just one paycheck away from being on welfare. If their job goes south, what might they do to ensure their family’s well-being?

Our governor and lawmakers are too intent on the philosophy of pulling one’s self up by the bootstraps. It becomes awfully hard to do if you don’t have boots to begin with.

Currently, in some families, the only food the children get is the federally funded breakfasts and lunches provided in the schools. They are too proud to go on welfare and their children go without food for supper. Or, those on welfare get such a small amount that families can’t provide much better.

Getting off welfare is ideal, but the truth is society still looks down on the unfortunate and many employers look at a “welfare” history and shy away from hiring these people. Although our current program is not perfect, it would be devastating to the lives of innocent children, the disabled and the infirm if its funds were cut. Take the scissors elsewhere and don’t cut the heart out of the less fortunate.