Whether liberals wish to admit it or not, the country is turning more conservative. With the obvious success of President Trump’s tax cuts and the economy steaming forward, the voting electorate is taking a hard look.
The nation as a whole is thinking more about the illegal immigrant problem and what it means to our schools and institutions. Crime is at the forefront of people’s minds and Trump follows through with his campaign pledge to destroy ISIS.
The idea of “progressive thinking” is getting a second look for all it entails. That is no more apparent than this week in liberal Wisconsin. The cost of such thinking is now on the front burning of voter’s minds.
That state’s assembly passed a welfare overhaul package Thursday endorsed by conservative Gov. Scott Walker. He is in the midst of a re-election campaign that many would think makes his stance unpopular with the large number of so-called progressives in the state.
But times are changing and Americans are taking a harder look at where their tax dollars are actually going. Walker’s proposed agenda would make his state the nation’s toughest on work requirements for food stamp recipients.
The governor’s bill would require people receiving food stamps to sign up for worker training and experience necessary to get a real job in the private sector. That would hopefully lead to regular work with no further need of public assistance.
Wisconsin at present has a low three percent unemployment rate. That makes the job market all the more inviting for first-time job applicants. The entire idea of the law makes common sense to more and more taxpayers footing the enormous bill for welfare assistance.
There are the usual critics. They view Scott’s bill as an election trick. It is a grand scheme to increase his conservative base and make it harder to escape poverty. That line of thinking makes no sense at all.
The liberals cite the $90 million dollar cost of instituting the law. What they don’t say is what the enormity of benefits it will create that make that dollar amount a bargain. It is difficult to see their argument as anything more than an attempt to preserve the voting base of their party and continue enabling healthy, fit people from working for their living.
Wisconsin already has a requirement that able-bodied adults receiving food stamps work or receive worker training at least 20 hours a week. Walker is now proposing that Wisconsin be one of the few states with a work requirement of 30 hours per week — the maximum allowed under federal law.
There has already been a degree of success with the current law in Wisconsin. The present requirement has encouraged approximately 25,000 Wisconsin citizens on food stamps to find work and 80,000 who had lost all their benefits since December.
Walker is also interested in the inclusion of recipient’s children to be part of the work requirement. Those between the ages of 16 to 18 would also be subject beginning in October 2019.
Because of their age, that inclusion would be subject to federal approval. But the idea is one that would instill the work ethic in younger people rather than the lifetime mind fix of the government, a.k.a. taxpayer, being your employer.
Walker wasn’t through there. Other bills up for passage include mandatory drug testing and treatment to be eligible for public housing. Mandatory photo IDs to participate in the food stamp program, no Medicaid participation for any able-bodied adults who refused to cooperate with paternity determination of a child, establish or enforce any child support order or obtain other payments a child has a right to receive.
Conservative ideas are beginning to catch on across the country. Budgets have tightened and citizens are becoming more enlightened on how massive the costs are to allow healthy individuals to simply sit and collect taxpayer money.
Democrats are already growing more concerned with Trump’s latest favorable ratings. Now a liberal state like Wisconsin is passing bills that once were seen only in states like Kansas or Nebraska. “The times they are a changing.” Ultra-left Bob Dylan was right all along.
Dwight L. Schwab, Jr. is an award-winning national political and foreign affairs columnist and published author. He has spent over 35 years in the publishing industry. His long-running articles include many years at Examiner.com and currently Newsblaze.com. Dwight is an author of two highly acclaimed books, "Redistribution of Common Sense - Selected Commentaries on the Obama Administration 2009-2014" and "The Game Changer - America's Most Stunning Election in History." He is a native of Portland, Oregon, a journalism graduate from the University of Oregon, and a resident of the SF Bay Area. To read more of his reports — Click Here Now.
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