<p>“As others have noted, this is a success story of the system. This boy will stop the public assistance track in his family and get off of it because he is going to be well educated. I cannot understand any of the talk of him paying the state back. He was a minor who lived in a poor family requiring assistance so he could live and go onto a better life. He will pay society back in other ways.”</p>
<p>I am a rock-ribbed conservative and agree with this. I do not think that I’m entitled to a break on my taxes because my parents paid in far more than they ever got out; likewise, this kid doesn’t owe society anything except to be a productive, contributing member thereof. </p>
<p>Most conservatives have a problem with welfare because it perpetrates a cycle of poverty: parents teach their kids how to milk the system. It is seen as a right, an entitlement, a way to screw the man or whitey or whomever. It also brings out a lot of ugliness in human nature, and the way it is set up (with very steep reductions in benefits for small increases in income) create incentives to stay in poverty. </p>
<p>I would hope that we can all agree that there are real problems with our welfare system without thinking that this kid is a poster child for those problems.</p>