It is not compassionate for people to be in the welfare system for years at a time. America is about people bettering themselves and attaining dignity and self-respect through supporting themselves and achieving things.

That is why the story of Kiara, a 30-year-old woman with four children, is disturbing on multiple levels. Not only should taxpayers be upset with her blase attitude about abusing the welfare system, they should feel bad for the thousands of Americans like her who are spending their lives wasting their time, instead of living life to the fullest and achieving things.

YoungCons points out a great quote by Ronald Reagan, “Welfare’s purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.”

This follows a sage quote by Benjamin Franklin: “I am for doing good to the poor, but…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. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

People cannot be empowered when they are on welfare. What is needed is more opportunity, and that’s where the federal and state governments can come in. Governments should stop penalizing successful businesses, eliminate burdensome and unnecessary regulations, and let people work and lead their own lives.