OK I have fessed up to being a former JFK Democrat and I have no problem with entitlements.
If the churches won't take total care of the underprivileged (and they don't) then I have no problem with Big Brother doing it.
Yes, and the government could do a better job of the strategy and management of the assistance (another convoluted problem).
On a positive note.
In my teens my step-Dad went to prison and we were in a desperation of poverty.
The State of Louisiana provided us (my mother and 6 children - my mother had 2 sets of twins) a place to live in a roach infested housing project.
We were allotted government surplus food which I had to periodically go get. My mother received $9.00/Mo. on state welfare (this was in the 50's).
Somehow the Free Masons found out my step-Dad was from an old southern Free Mason Alabama family (my Dad's family probably made the phone call) and our life got considerably better.
Say what you will about the Free Masons but they made sure we had everything we needed.
They even saw to it that I received free passage on the streetcars and buses of New Orleans (there were no school buses).
I complained about the roaches and a couple of weeks later the entire housing project was debugged.
Admittedly some of the help came from churches which supported Free Masonry, had Free Mason pastors, elders and deacons with which the Masons connected us.
One of the women (from a Baptist Church with Masons) visited us monthly or weekly on occasion.
Thanksgiving and Christmas were especially joyful as they delivered food, clothes, bedding, toys. Our cup runneth over.
We need to adopt this kind of Masonic social networking and make it a disciplined endeavor of the churches.
Just giving credit where credit is due.