Under the old welfare system, founded during the Great Depression, the federal government provided fairly uniform benefits to the nation's poor - mostly mothers and children - with out regard to the details of their personal circumstances, and with no time limit. But as the times changed, changes that should have been made years ago, didn't become effective until the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in August of 1996. Now, welfare is left to the discretion of individual states. This is the way that welfare should have been all along. Even so, I feel that assistance should only be available to those with jobs or on some kind of temporary work leave (ex: injury, maternity).

The welfare programs of the Great Depression changed American values forever. I interviewed my grandfather on the topic, and he only agreed. Even though his family was poor, he was raised never to accept anything he didn't work for.

"Men had pride back then," he recalled in a lecturing tone, "and supporting your family made you honorable, no matter what your job was. Then welfare came along and disrupted all of it. America was never supposed to be

Over time the welfare system has fallen victim to tremendous abuse. American citizens as a whole are very confused. Some are shouting to care for anyone who can't care for himself or herself in any way possible for as long as it takes. Others are busy opposing them, calling for an end to the welfare that made Americans so weak and dependant, creating the ultimate motivation: poverty. Then there are those that feel the government is personally responsible for finding jobs for those no longer eligible for the programs. That leaves the political viewpoint of those like myself: our welfare system, for the current social conditions, is just fine. It's not too enabling but not likely to be taken advantage of either. There is no way to satisfy every opinion and so we are left to think of it logically. The working class citizens shouldn't have to pay anymore than they do currently to support those on assistance. To increase assistance would increase taxes, and while the wealthy extrem!

sibility to provide motivation for those who don't want to support their children. There are limits to what Americans should expect their government to do.

Many critics suggest that getting the vast majority of welfare recipients into jobs will be difficult. While two thirds

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