Letters: Cutting entitlements empowers people

President Trump’s $4 trillion budget for fiscal year 2018 includes cuts to programs like Medicaid and food stamps, but nobody is going to starve or go without essential medical treatment. Like the bipartisan reforms of 1996 (“end welfare as we know it”), the cuts are based on the idea that welfare programs stripped many of their initiative to find work. A job would mean losing benefits, so the reform included work requirements, which were waived in 2012 by President Obama.

The Trump proposal is based on the idea that able-bodied adults should have to work or prepare for work in exchange for benefits and that states should have more responsibility for both management and funding. They are much more prudent with their own money than “free money” from Washington.

Expanding social programs have created a sense of entitlement and a culture of long-term dependency. Unlike sharing within a family, all the “free stuff” from the government comes with no sense of obligation or responsibility.

It is much more rewarding for people to work; this budget with its associated reform will lift people up from the trap of dependency. And even though it is far from deficit-neutral, it is a step closer to a balanced budget, which has to be achieved soon to avoid both economic and social collapse of our great country.

This story was originally published June 8, 2017 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Letters: Cutting entitlements empowers people."