Ben Franklin once said: “I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.”Ronald Reagan once said: “Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.”

Yet about 250 years after Ben Franklin spoke those words and 35 years after Ronald Reagan spoke his, the dependence on government has never been stronger. Each year, billions of your dollars are spent funding social programs, such as welfare, subsidized housing, food stamps and a host of other “socially beneficial” programs.

This clearly isn’t what the founding fathers had in mind.

The founding fathers fought for independence from a king who taxed the colonies without representation to further the wealth of England. In their eyes, they were being taxed without seeing any benefit from it. This is where I stand on taxes that promote social programs. Where is the benefit? I am worse off after being taxed because I no longer have the money I paid in taxes in my pocket. The person who receives my tax dollars is no better off, because all they received is next month’s rent, or some cash to put some food on the table. They didn’t receive anything to help themselves, well, help themselves. If we’re going to be taxed anywhere up to 35% of our income (not including state and local taxes) I demand that something be done to honor the views of Franklin and Reagan.

Let’s make people on welfare work for the money they receive. And don’t make it some cushy job that they won’t want to leave, make it be the most awful jobs, that no one wants. Make them work next to felons walking along highways picking up the trash, and stamping license plates. They should be compensated, as even prisoners are compensated for the work they do – but it shouldn’t be any more than whatever the prisoners get paid, and if it is, no more than minimum wage. No holiday or overtime pay. When there’s work to be done, they should show up and get the job done. If they don’t want to show up, fine, they don’t get paid.

Now I can see there being a benefit to this. These unemployed people will be more willing to take a real job, even if it isn’t something that they really want to do, as even working at McDonald’s probably beats picking up someone else’s McDonald’s wrapper on the side of the interstate. With more people earning a wage in the private sector, there will be fewer people depending on the government for their paycheck – and as a result fewer people depending on you and I to pay higher taxes. These people will also start to pay taxes rather than consume them, reducing the burden on the rest of us.

Now there are some of you who will call me cruel for wanting to give these people jobs like this. But who says we have to give them anything? If you ask me, giving someone who is down on their luck a job, any job, is better than handing them money they did nothing to earn. At least this way they’ll take some pride in what money they do have, and want to earn more of it.

Social programs like welfare are the easy way out of a problem. They’re easy for the government, because they just write a check and it keeps the poor and the unemployed quiet. And they’re easy for the poor and the unemployed because they don’t have to do anything to get their checks, except of course for remaining unemployed. It shouldn’t be this way though. It just isn’t fair to those who take pride in what they do and earn a fair living. It isn’t right to take away what was earned and give it to someone who did literally nothing to earn it.

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Today, March 22nd is my birthday. I am writing to the American people to ask for just one thing on my birthday. That one thing is for everyone to take responsibility for themselves and their actions.If you recently lost your job and are collecting unemployment, stop. Don’t accept another check. It’s my tax dollars that are paying you, and it isn’t fair to me to have to worry about your problems is it? After all it is my birthday isn’t it?

If you are retired and can’t afford your prescription medication, ask yourself “is it my responsibility to pay for my own drugs, or is it Scott’s?” If you fit in this category, think about returning to the workforce, even if it’s just part time, so that I don’t have to pay for your medication on my birthday. While I’m sure it’s nice to be retired, you’re not entitled to it. If you need money for any reason, don’t look to me for it unless you’re willing to work for it.

If you are a college student, or a graduate looking to go back to school, make sure you can do so financially. An education is a wonderful thing to have, but it’s your responsibility to pay for it. If you can’t afford it, get a loan, if you can’t get a loan, get a job and if you still can’t afford it then learn to love your job because I feel no responsibility to pay for your education. Especially on my birthday.

If you had unprotected sex, got pregnant and now realize that it was a big mistake don’t kill your child. It’s not their fault they were created, it’s yours so take responsibility for your actions. Besides, I don’t want to think about all the unborn children who died on my birthday.

In the end I guess all I’m really asking for on my birthday from the American people is nothing, and in return I don’t want to give anything (after all should I really have to give you a present on my birthday?). I want you to live your life with as little interference with me as possible. I don’t want you asking the government, that I pay taxes to, for more money for things that are ultimately your responsibility, not mine. All that does is place the burden of your problems on me (along with the millions of other taxpayers). And what kind of birthday present is that?

There are plenty of other Americans who share my birthday, so don’t think of this as a present to me, think about it as a present to all of us. And when you continue taking responsibility for yourself tomorrow, the day after and every other day of the year think about it as a present to all those who have a birthday on that day. After all, you wouldn’t want me knocking on your door on your birthday asking for money and complaining about all my problems would you?

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