The Welfare Queen
From dKosopedia
Contents |
The Welfare Queen
Myth
The Rightwing Urban Legend of the welfare queen presents the idea of a fraudulent "baby factory" (sorry for the foul language). This person plans to get every bit of a free ride living better than hard working class Americans with no obligations. She supposedly trains her children to live the same way.
Facts
No one living on public assistance has a high standard of living by Western standards. Most people on welfare are not on welfare for life. -insert birth rate for mothers on welfare, and avg duration of benefits-. People go on welfare to get through hard times and feed their children. The opportunity of freedom is always there for the next generation, and public assistance for children is our way of ensuring people survive long enough to get their chances. The sad truth is that this help is not really sufficient to give most children in poverty an even chance.
"Welfare" is a [habilitation program].
Simple logic
This myth depends on a frequently used rhetorical trick -- arguing from "Some people are XYZ" to "All people (or almost all people) are XYZ." It only takes one "poster mom" and her "poster kids" (who may have come from central casting, who knows) to make one convincing picture that gives the impression that there is an army of such families "out there." The effective counter to this trick is to demand the statistics. When the myth pusher hems and haws then you pull out the real statistics.
![[Main Page]](../../../../upload/banner-blue-135.jpg)