By Israel Cruz
I want to talk about something that many of us have lived through—the welfare system. We know that welfare is supposed to help us when times are hard. It gives us food stamps, housing assistance, and other benefits to make sure we can survive. But here’s the problem: welfare isn’t built to help us get out of the struggle. Instead, it keeps us stuck.
I’m not just talking from what I’ve read—I’m talking from real life. I’ve been on welfare myself, and I used it as a buffer. That means I used it to keep me afloat when things got tough. But welfare has a cliff, and if you reach a certain income level, all the help gets taken away too fast. Suddenly, you’re left to fend for yourself, even if you’re not ready to make that leap. It feels like you’re walking on a bridge, but there’s a big piece missing in the middle.
Here’s what happened in my family: my mother wanted to get married to my stepfather. He was a good man, a provider. But they didn’t get married right away because if they did, my stepfather’s income would be added to the household, and all of our benefits would be gone. Even though his income wasn’t enough for us to live on comfortably, the system decided that we wouldn’t need help anymore. So, for a while, my mom had to wait before she could marry him. This is a broken system.
The Fatherless Problem
This is happening in many homes, especially in Black and Hispanic communities. Welfare is discouraging marriage, making it harder for men to be in the home. And we know what happens when kids grow up without fathers: they’re more likely to drop out of school, get involved in crime, or end up in prison. If the goal of welfare is to help us, then why are our kids more likely to suffer when their families are relying on it?
The statistics don’t lie. Kids without fathers in their lives are more likely to struggle, but welfare makes it hard for families to stay together. This leads to what we call a fatherless society, and the effects are clear: more broken homes, more kids going down the wrong path, and more people trapped in a cycle of poverty and dependence.
The “Cliff” Effect and How It Hurts Us
When you reach a certain income level while on welfare, all your benefits get cut off at once. This is called the cliff effect. Imagine you’re working hard, trying to move up, and you get a raise or a better job. But as soon as you cross that income line, everything you were depending on disappears. Food stamps? Gone. Housing assistance? Gone. But your new paycheck doesn’t cover all your needs yet. So what happens? Many people fall right back into the welfare system because they can’t make it across the gap.
Here’s the real problem: the system makes you feel like you have to choose between improving your life and keeping your family stable. If the support was designed to taper off gradually, people could have a better chance to reach the other side. You shouldn’t be punished for trying to do better.
Who’s Behind It?
A lot of these policies come from the Democratic Party. They’re the ones pushing for welfare to be the solution to poverty, but instead, it’s become a trap. They say they’re helping us by providing these benefits, but at the same time, they’re making it harder for us to get out of poverty. They tell us that things like voter ID laws are racist or that we need welfare and affirmative action because we can’t succeed on our own. But that’s wrong—what’s truly racist is making people feel like they can’t do anything without the government’s help.
The Democratic Party makes it seem like Black and Hispanic people can’t make it without government programs, but that’s just not true. We don’t need handouts to succeed; we need opportunities and a system that doesn’t punish us for working hard.
How We Can Fix It
Here’s what we need to do to fix this broken system:
1. Taper Welfare Benefits Gradually: As you earn more money, welfare should decrease slowly. This way, you can build up your income without losing everything at once. It would give families a chance to walk across that bridge and make it to the other side without falling.
2. Support Marriage and Families: The welfare system should encourage families to stay together, not penalize them. Right now, if a man moves in with his family, welfare cuts them off because they think his income is enough. That needs to change. We should support marriages and family unity because kids need both parents in the home.
3. Job Training and Education: Welfare should come with opportunities for job training and education, so people can move up without relying on the system. People don’t want to be on welfare forever—they want the American Dream.
4. Focus on Empowerment, Not Dependence: The goal of welfare should be to empower people, not to keep them dependent on the government. We need a system that helps people grow and succeed, not one that traps them in poverty.
Final Thoughts
I’m speaking from experience here. I’ve been in the system, and I know how hard it is to break free. But I also know that we can make it if we change the way the system works. Welfare should be a bridge, not a trap. It should help us build strong families, not tear them apart.
We need a system that gives people a real chance at success. Let’s work toward a future where families can stay together, where hard work is rewarded, and where no one is stuck in poverty because of the very system that was supposed to help them. We can break this cycle, and we can give our kids the future they deserve.
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