Blessed Are the Poor

Bill Keezer comments on this post:

We have to be a bit careful here. Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians states that those who will not work should not eat. Protecting the poor from predation and protecting them from the consequences of bad decisions are two different things that often are conflated. This is at the root of many welfare state disasters. I do not think it straightforward, if possible, to justify continual handouts from scripture. I think it necessary to investigate more closely the Old Testament concept of justice. It does not necessarity imply rights as it does today.

I think Bill is right here in that some welfare policies are actually counterproductive and fail to help those they’re aimed at. But this, it seems to me, only increases the responsibility of those of us to whom much has been given. Someone who makes bad decisions is in just as much need of help as a hard-working member of the “deserving” poor. It will be a different kind of help, and perhaps not a kind of help best delivered by government bureaucracy. It might involve, for instance, trying to change the environment of children who grow up thinking that dropping out of high school to have a baby or dealing drugs are good ideas.

When I talk about “rights” what I mean is that the poor have a claim on the rest of us for help. How we should respond to that claim will differ with circumstances.

On a related note, see here for a discussion of the effectiveness of recent welfare reform measures.