Almost two years ago, I wrote an article, “Drug Free for Free Money,” in which I applauded Florida Governor Rick Scott for requiring adults applying for welfare assistance to undergo drug screening. I thought it was a great idea and still do.
But, then, I don’t wear a black muu muu. Immediately after the law went into effect, the ACLU, of course, filed a lawsuit and a local court temporarily suspended the requirement. The case eventually went to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals which decided in February that Florida hadn’t shown a “special need” that justified suspending the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches. The case isn’t over yet and several other states have enacted similar laws.
I accept the ruling but I don’t have to like it.
I still don’t get why someone doesn’t need to drug test in order to get money from the hard-working taxpayer. This is a no brainer for me.
We’re not talking about close personal relationships with friends and family who are entitled to our unconditional love.
We’re talking about people who aren’t entitled to anything so why shouldn’t he or she be required to prove that they actually need our money to feed themselves and their kids and will not be shooting it into to their arm or snorting it up their nose?
The real problem with this whole mess is that there is no government accountability. Government is absolutely impotent and either lacks the skill or willpower to oversee the payments and to account to the taxpayers. Instead, it continues to hemorrhage money with no consideration to where the money came from – the taxpayer. (Another example is the missing $700,000,000.00 that went to Hurricane Katrina “victims.”)
Frankly, I have no idea why these types of programs aren’t implemented by the private sector. Communities and churches are in the business of helping people and should be the “helping hands” for people in need. Not the government. Local people know who really needs help and who’s scamming the system. Friends and families should know whether their children are being fed and cared for. How can the government possibly know what their needs really are? It can’t. Pure and simple.
An argument can be made that there are just too many unfortunate situations which cannot be handled solely by the communities and churches. To that I say, “Maybe it’s just too easy to get money from the government so those who aren’t needy apply and get benefits they’re not entitled to because they know no one is checking.” I know one person who found a job after her 99 weeks of unemployment benefits ran out. If anyone is going to try to convince me she was looking for work those 99 weeks, don’t even try.
As I’ve written before in “Who’s Rich? Who’s Poor?”, if we’re taking the care of the less fortunate in society out of the hands of families, friends and communities and placing it in the hands of the government, when will recipients be accountable to the government, and, more specifically, to their fellow Americans who actually foot the bill for all these entitlements?
As a taxpayer, and as someone who’s seen plenty of people scam the system by manipulating their drug screens to show up negative or by selling their food stamps, bus passes, and just about any other type of government assistance, in exchange for money to buy drugs, I’d really like to see some oversight and accountability. Bottom line: Drug abusers shouldn’t be allowed to live off our tax dollars and if it requires non-drug abusers alike to drug test, then so be it.
I don’t get it, but if you do, God bless you.
