As we look across this country, it is ignorant to say that nothing needs to be done to solve the societal ills of this country. While we have it unquestionably better than most of the world, there still are things we can and should do to make our nation and our communities better and stronger. But in the search for solutions, I have found most on both sides of the political spectrum to be equally inept in their proposals.

The right would often ignore the immediacy of some of the problems. They'll mutter "get a job", without even stopping to think that even that well intentioned advice is highly impractical to someone without the skills to retain a job. Most employers are not patient enough to continually abide a worker who doesn't seem to realize the expediency of showing up on time, or who does not dress to the level expected by the company, or any manner of other things. There's a lot of work that needs to be done to get a man from the streets into gainful employment, and it's not work most businesses are willing to undertake, as they're not in the human services business, they are in other areas of business.

But more to the point, even an offer of a job does nothing to pay the bills that are already piling up. It does nothing to help with transportation (not all of us have the luxury of having public transit), child care, or any number of real expenses these families will incur even as they try to seek a job. And even if a family has a car, it still takes fuel to drive to and from work, to the store, etc, and most employers "hold back" the first check, a practice most of us are probably well aware of.

Many on the left are equally short sighted. While I have abandoned what the left has become, I will not hesitate to acknowledge that the major saving grace for the left is that they almost universally care about making the world a better place. You will not find many on the left who do not have altruistic intentions, even if those intentions are misguided. But by providing for the physical needs of the poor, without providing for the long term future, they are offering only a bandaid, a panacea that will do nothing to decrease dependents. And every program to reach the poor should be geared to its own obsolescence. The left is doing a marvelous job of feeding the poor for today, but what are they doing to help the poor for the many tomorrows to come? As I told a friend who was lamenting the impoverished towns in the Appalachian regions of the United States: "if you were to come back to those same towns in five years, which would you rather see? A food bank and clothing ministry on every corner, or jobs, and prosperity?" I think almost all of us would rather see those people working and self sufficient.

It is a little hidden fact that I am against the government welfare system. But that's only part and parcel of my belief. I'm against ANY government spending in areas where the government shouldn't be appropriating funds. And welfare is but a small part of it. And I would readily concede two points: 1.) that of most government expenditures that I consider excessive, welfare system should be the among the LAST to go, and only after private systems have been set in place to care for those who will find themselves without a government handout), and 2.) that there SHOULD exist a "catastrophic" welfare fund to take care of emergency welfare needs that would overburden a private welfare system.

But ultimately we need to realize that we are doing little service to the poor if we are raising them as dependents on the government, and raising their children to the same dependency. We need new, creative solutions that focus on long term cures rather than short term treatments. I believe it CAN be done through such possible means as getting creative with college work-study programs (social services majors, for instance, could be put to work shuttling low income individuals to medical appointments, shopping, etc in areas not served by public transit), as well as programs that teach people how to help themselves. I am a FIRM believer in bringing back the idea of "victory gardens", and putting them into place in our inner cities and impoverished regions. There are so many ways that we can teach people to improve their OWN lots, and maybe after attempting these sorts of programs for a number of years, we can begin to employ the initial participants in the program as instructors, mentors, and counselors. But to make these changes, we need to put aside party bias and examine what, truly, is best for America.