By Steve Levy
You have to check out this full-page article written by the left-leaning Associated Press on how the new workfare requirements for Medicaid will lead to terrible consequences for those who claim they can’t work.
When Bill Clinton teamed up with Republicans in the late 1990s to revamp the welfare system by requiring able-bodied people to get a job and to limit welfare payments to five years for those who could work, some in the liberal establishment went nuts.
Even the occasionally sane U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan claimed that it would be a disaster for the poor. They were all wrong. The poor actually flourished after workfare because it incentivized many of these folks to get off government dependency and to become more self-sufficient.
The number of people in poverty actually fell after the reforms. The welfare rolls diminished by 60%. So, you would think that we would’ve learned something from this success. But no, Barack Obama got elected in 2008 on a platform that would fundamentally change America. Part of that platform was to tear apart the incredible gains that were made through Clinton‘s welfare reform. Obama did it by watering down the work requirements. Then Joe Biden came along and used COVID to eviscerate the program even further.
Biden’s theory was to place as many Americans on the dole as possible. The libs liked more folks dependent on the Democratic Party, who would promise to keep the checks flowing.
Thus, the welfare and Medicaid rolls exploded. Even if one were to say that this was somewhat necessary during a pandemic, the pandemic is now five years in the rearview mirror and, yet, the Medicaid and welfare rolls remained alarmingly high.
Then came Donald Trump, who said we’ve got to get back to the old Clinton plan by putting in place a simple, easily attainable goal of working or volunteering for 20 hours a week if you wanted to continue to get the free money from welfare or Medicaid.
This has the Democratic Party in the liberal establishment going bonkers. They fear that so many of these dependent people will now become self-sufficient and will no longer be looking to the Democrats for their next paycheck. So they worked in conjunction with the liberal media to find stories of people who will supposedly be devastated once these rules are implemented.
The article highlights an individual who claimed he couldn’t work because he was chronically depressed. Welcome to the club.
It’s hard to find anyone over 45 who doesn’t have stress or lower back pain. But somehow they still manage to get up and go to work.
It’s understandable why Democratic leaders would oppose these workfare requirements that would erode that dependent base. But it is truly tragic to see our leftist media play up this myth that millions of able-bodied people collecting checks and watching television for seven hours a day are not able to at least volunteer 20 hours a week at an organization.
No heavy lifting or deep thinking required. Just get off your duff, get on a bus and report to the designated location. Hardworking Americans, and those with common sense, understand that these reforms are needed to maintain a vibrant workforce, a meaningful work ethic, and to keep enough money around to care for the truly disabled.
Clinton understood that and changed America for the better. Unfortunately, his Democratic successors in Obama and Biden promoted the dependency route. Now, there’s an effort to bring us back to the Clinton reform.
Let’s push back against a liberal media that, more often than not, defends the indefensible if it’s in the name of a leftist cause.