When Government Help Hurts

SOCIAL COUNCIL SOON was the headline of The Barbados Advocate on Saturday June 11, 2005. Later in the article it stated, “…that governments must begin to see their social protection policies and programmes as developmental, rather than concentrated in the welfarism aspect of the programmes”. This is good news. In the early 1990s, America had a radical shift in their approach to welfare. A shift we should take note of. Although welfare had done some good, it had also created a permanent underclass – the chronically poor. With this permanent underclass also came related social pathologies such as alcohol addiction, drug abuse and crime. America’s welfare system was in dire need of reform. Marvin Olasky discovered the answer. He discovered it by analyzing the traditional Christian approach to charity. In researching the numerous Christian charities in the nineteenth-century, often dubbed the Benevolent Empire, he found that churches specialized in personal assistance that literally fulfilled the meaning of compassion – “suffering with” others. These charities didn’t just hand out money, they helped people to change their lives, focusing on job training and education. They required that those receiving aid do useful work. This gave them a chance to rebuild their human dignity whilst simultaneously making a worthwhile contribution to society. They built social networks, reconnecting the needy with family and the church for continuous support and accountability. Most importantly, they addressed the moral and spiritual needs that lie at the root of all dysfunctional behaviour. If there is one area where government help can hurt, it is in the area of welfare. The American government realized that by handing out welfare cheques to all who qualify, without addressing the underlying behavioural problems, they were in essence “rewarding” antisocial and dysfunctional behavioural patterns. And we all know, that any behaviour the government rewards will tend to increase. The churches’ successful approach was outlined in Olasky’s book, The Tragedy of American Compassion. This book impacted former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich so much, he distributed it to all incoming freshmen in Congress. Olasky then became an advisor to President Bush, who promised to create a special office to support faith-based initiatives. A lesson we would do well to take note of.