Patrick Bohan for Congress: Welfare, Poverty, and Homelessness Policy
Empower local churches, charities, and communities to address poverty. It is a local issue, not a federal issue. Welfare violates the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment that property (money) can only be taken from a private citizen for public use (not private use). The Constitutional standard set in Calder v. Bull (1798) says the government should enforce no law “that takes property [money] from A. and gives it to B.” Calder is still good law and should protect us from welfare. Nobody should get something for nothing. In Deuteronomy 24:19 – 21 God spells out how the issue of poverty should be addressed. This law states that farmers could only harvest and pick their crop one time. Farmers were forbidden to go back a second time and recover what was missed. Whatever remained was to be earmarked for the poor. That said, it was the duty of the poor to work and collect any remaining provisions. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10 “If anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.” Our Founders, such as Ben Franklin, similarly believed “the best way of doing good to the poor is not making them easy in poverty but leading or driving them out of it.” Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington explain the obvious, that no one will get out of poverty through “idleness” or “laziness.” I am not suggesting everyone on welfare is lazy or does not want to work. What I am suggesting is that the system is abused by both the government and some citizens. There is nothing wrong helping neighbors in need, but that is the role of community. One must not forget; the United States government is one of the worst charities since less than 30% of its revenue earmarked for welfare makes it to the nation’s poor. Any charity with the government’s efficiency would surely not last very long in the private sector. In other words, letting the private sector handle the problem should correlate to much more money getting to those in need.
There is nothing wrong helping neighbors in need, that is the role of community. One must not forget; the United States government is one of the worst charities since less than 30% of its revenue earmarked for welfare makes it to the nation’s poor. Any charity with the government’s efficiency would surely not last very long in the private sector. In other words, letting the private sector handle the problem would mean much more money getting to those in need. Government inefficiency explains why the percentage of Americans living in poverty have remained the same since the war on poverty began 60 years ago.
The bible never says the government is responsible for charity. In fact, the bible teaches us that the government must be impartial regardless of the socioeconomic status of individuals (Exodus 23:3 – 6, Leviticus 19:15, and Proverbs 29:14). Our Founders never said the government is responsible for charity.
Furthermore, enforcing the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment to prevent welfare policies (or promote antiwelfare) should be the Constitutional standard set in Calder v. Bull (1798). Calder says the government should enforce no law “that takes property [money] from A. and gives it to B.” The Constitution’s taking’s clause (Fifth Amendment) provides that the government may take private property only for public uses and with just compensation. But taking tax revenues (money is property) from private citizens and giving that money to other private citizens violates the takings clause. The Sixteenth Amendment affords that the government can levy an income tax overruling Pollock v. Farmers Loan and Association, but the amendment does not empower the federal government to use tax money for anything outside the legislative grants of power enumerated in the Constitution. For example, income tax revenues could be used to financing the military, infrastructure, and post offices (public uses). On the other hand, there are no grants of power in the Constitution to afford the federal government the authority to spend tax money on welfare or to legislate welfare. Welfare legislation should be the responsibility of state and local governments. And charity should be the responsibility of the community.