Welfare Reform Proposals

Your editorial “For the Common Good” (May 14) makes the Ford Foundation report on social welfare reform sound like worthwhile reading. But as necessary as increased spending on the social safety net is, I keep wondering when this country is going to begin dealing with the causes of poverty? When will the commitment manifest that will make solutions inevitable? To most Americans the funds spent on poverty, hunger, homelessness, housing, inadequate health care, etc., are simply being poured down the proverbial bucket with a hole.

What is needed? Once again, it’s the complete commitment on the part of every American to demand of their government and each other the empowerment of every other American. With the proper support, caring, resources, encouragement, and values any person reaching adulthood can have choices and make decisions consistent with their own goals and visions for a prosperous life. The first step in that process is ensuring that our children, through personal contact, the media, our institutions and social infrastructure, have the self-esteem to have forged a vision of a satisfying life so that their actions, at all stages of life, will be for their own good and the common good as well.

No “welfare” program can do that, although some are and more could form planks of the foundation upon which those choices are made. And our commitment to those programs must be greater than our commitment to war machines, if they are ever to attain the lofty goal of full budgetary consideration.

It is a two-pronged attack; a higher priority for relief initiatives, and a more concentrated effort at the root causes. But neither will occur until all of us raise it to its appropriate position on our personal and political agenda.

RICHARD HILTON

North Hollywood