Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Essay Example for Free

Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Essay Welfare is the provision of a minimal level of well-being and social support for all citizens, sometimes referred to as public aid. In most developed countries, welfare is largely provided by the government and to a lesser extent charities, informal social groups, religious groups, and inter-governmental organizations. There are 12,800,000 people on welfare in the United States. 46,700,000 are on food stamps, 5,600,000 are on unemployment insurance. The total government spending on welfare is $131. 9 billion, not including food stamps or unemployment (Welfare Statistics). As of April 17, 2013 29 states have proposed legislation requiring some form of drug testing or screening for public assistance recipients in 2013. Eight states, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Utah, have already passed legislation regarding drug testing or screening for public assistance applicants or recipients. States have proposed drug testing of applicants and recipients of public welfare benefits since federal welfare reform in 1996. In 2009, over 20 states proposed legislation that would require drug testing as a condition of eligibility for public assistance programs, and in 2010 at least 12 states had similar proposals(Drug Testing and Public Assistance). Data from Utah has shown Utah spent more than $30,000 dollars from August 2012 to July 2014 to screen welfare recipients, but only twelve people tested positive. 250 people failed to meet drug screening requirements and were banned from receiving or applying for benefits for three months. Those people would have received more than $350,000 in benefits. Utah’s law does not disqualify people who test positive from benefits, but instead requires them to enter substance abuse treatment. (Utah’s Welfare Drug Testing Saved More than $350,000 in First Year, Officials Say). Robert Rector, senior research fellow in domestic policy at Heritage foundation and leading authority on the welfare system, also believes people receiving welfare should be drug tested. He says, â€Å"Taxpayers should provide support to those in need; recipients, in return, should engage in responsible and constructive behavior as a condition of receiving aid. †. Almost 20% of welfare recipients report recent use of some illicit drug. (Key Research Findings). Robert also says, â€Å"Scientific evaluation of Florida’s drug-testing requirement showed that welfare recipients who used illegal drugs had earning that were 30% lower than those who did not. Quite simply, drug use was linked to lower levels of work. † Peter Cappelli, who is the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at the Wharton School and director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources, says that police already have the right to require drug test when there is probable cause. Peter states that people do not choose to be on welfare, unlike kids who play football at a local high school. Peter also goes on to say that the children are potentially affected by the drug testing. Kansas’s SB 149 bill says, â€Å"If an applicant for a recipient of cash assistance is ineligible for or terminated from cash assistance as a result of a positive test result for unlawful use of a controlled substance or controlled substance analog, and such applicant for or recipient of cash assistance is the parent or legal guardian of a minor child, an appropriate protective payee shall be designated to receive cash assistance on behalf of such child. †(United States Cong. ). Many who have proposed drug testing those on welfare proposed to require drug testing when reasonable suspicion exist(Drug Testing Public Assistance). The United States should test those on welfare and other benefit programs. The amount it would cost and amount of money that could be saved could help lower the nations national debt. If Utah can save $350,000, the United States as a whole could save even more.

Freely Choosing Between the Divided House Essay -- Literary Analysis,

One of the many questions that are raised in the discussion of the freedom of the will is the reason why we as humans do not love and have turned away from the highest good. According to Augustine’s philosophy, the chains or bonds of bad habits are self-forged by our divided will, also referred to as the divided house. In Book XII of â€Å"City of God† Augustine declares it pointless to look for the cause of the evil will. For the cause, he argues, is â€Å"deficient,† not â€Å"efficient.† Before I can discuss the issues of the divided will, I will explain what Augustine means by â€Å"deficient† as opposed to† efficient† cause as the cause of the divided will. Often times, actions are analyzed by rational explanation or causal explanation. Rational explanation attempts to explain an action by the goals a person might have in his mind at the moment. Causal explanation attempts to find the cause for that particular action. Augustine thinks it is pointless to find the cause of the evil will. Perhaps we should take into account Augustine’s view about The First Sin, when the defection of the bad angels first happened. â€Å"In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth†¦ And God saw that it was good† (NRSV, Genesis 1). If the Bible states that God created everything good because He is good, then evil, according to Augustine, is the absence of good and does not have any positive being--- defective and lack some perfection. The verb â€Å"defect† means to abandon allegiance to something. Its reason follows the noun â€Å"defect† which means to lack some perfection. One might suggests that an evil wi ll must cause an evil act or choice. Augustine argues that there is no efficient natural cause of an evil will rather the lack of some goodness--- a matter ... ...e is living in "Truth." True Happiness as Reward for Rightly Ordered Love In agreement with Augustine, I believe that like happiness, virtue can only be given by God. Virtue is rightly ordered love. Jesus’ two commandments: love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself, indicates that we should love the most what is objectively the best. Pride is a perverse kind of self-love and also a feature of the will. Pride was the reason why Satan freely willing to choose himself over God. In redemption, Jesus Christ, a model of humility, was the Second Adam who because of grace sacrifices Himself to bear and forgive humans of sins. I believe that we can choose to will good or to will evil. To freely will the love of the highest good means to willingly love God above all. In having this rightly ordered love, God gives the gift of true happiness in the afterlife .

The New Negro by Alain Locke

The essay The New Negro by Alain Locke’s defines what Locke believes to be the â€Å"Old Negro and the â€Å"New Negro. This paper will compare and contrasts Marcus Garvey The Future as I See it and Langston Hughes various poems on why Locke would have characterized them as either Old Negroes, New Negroes, or both. I believe Locke, Garvey , Hughes were determined to see Blacks succeed. Each writer expresses their idea in their own unique way, but they all wanted freedom, equality, and respect. For example, Locke would characterize Garvey as the Old and New Negro.For instance, Garvey writes that it’s time for each person to decide on how they will discover freedom. Garvey writes â€Å"The hour has now struck for the individual Negro as well as the entire race to decide the course that will be pursued in the interest of our own liberty†. (p. 1000) Garvey was writing his views on the future as he saw it. He wanted blacks to know now it’s your time to decide which path you want to take and you have the freedom to do so. Also, Locke writes â€Å"The Negro today is inevitably moving forward under the control largely of his own objectives†. (p. 89) Blacks are achieving their goals because ‘ is something they desired on their own. Also, Garvey informs the Negro that their will be people who will try to discourage you from reaching the freedom you so desperately want. Garvey writes, â€Å" Some trying to capitalize the new spirit that has come to the Negro to make profit out of it to their own selfish benefit; some are trying to set back the Negro from seeing the hope of own liberty†¦ â€Å"(p. 1001). In spite of, what the white men might think or feel on how far Negros will get in life, we must not listen and believe what they feel.Garvey writes â€Å"white men may laugh at the idea of Negroes talking about government; but let me tell you there is going to be a government†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (p. 1002) Garvey writes to the Ne w Negroes that we can’t let anyone plant a seed in our minds and our spirit that we can not achieve the same goals that the white man wants. This is a new day for us and we are going to embrace this new beginning and let no one stop us for achieving our goals. In addition, Garvey writes to the New Negroes about the vision he sees for them.He reminds them that God created them and because of this you are special and do not allow anyone to tell you differently. Garvey writes, â€Å"Remember that you are men, that God created you Lords of this creation. Nonetheless, Garvey’s vision for Negroes was that we can do anything that we set our minds to regardless of the circumstances that we could face. Garvey writes, â€Å" Let no man pull you down, let no man destroy your ambition, because man is but your companion, your equal; man is your brother; he is not your lord; he is not your sovereign master†. p. 1003) Garvey’s vision to the Negroes was that man is not the one you live for, God is the one who will be their with you to the end and he will never leave you. Also, Locke would characterize Hughes poems as New and Old Negroes. First, in Hughes’s poem Mother to Son; a mother is telling her son that her journey through life has not been easy, but she will not give up. Hughes writes â€Å" Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. † (p. 1292) This mother is telling her son her life has not been easy but she is still standing.The mother wanted her son to know no matter how hard times may become don’t you give up. Hughes writes â€Å"So boy, don’t you turn back. † Locke and Hughes both were sending the same message; they both were determined to see blacks succeed. Next, Hughes poem I Too relates to a young black man who believes that he is beautiful and one day everybody will notice this. â€Å"They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong. † (p. 295) The young man will go quietly and he will dream about the day when he will be able to sit at the table with everybody and they will notice he is a beautiful person. Hughes writes â€Å"Tomorrow, I’ll be at the table When company comes. Nobody†ll dare Say to me, â€Å"Eat in the kitchen,† Also, in the Theme for English B by Hughes I believe Locke would have characterized this to the New Negro. It was about a young color-man who was only colored student in his English class. His instructor asked the class go home and write something that is true and it will let you know who you really are.The young color boy wanted his instructor to know that even though they both might not want to be part of each other world, they both could learn from each other. I believe Locke, Garvey, and Hughes all shared similar values and views about the New Negro and Old Negro. All of them told their stories in different ways, but they all told their in own unique way. Finally, a ll three authors wanted to express how they believed that we can reach our goals regardless of any obstacles that may stand in our way. Sharise Williams Literature-125 Professor Crowe.

Jurgis Rudkus as a Dynamic Character in Upton Sinclairs...

The Jungle (1906), by Upton Sinclair, is a story mainly about the life and turmoil of a man who came to American in hopes that he will become a free, rich man with a beautiful wife, Ona, and happy family; this man is the young Jurgis Rudkus, a strong, energetic Lithuanian whose personality and life are all changed several times over the coarse of the story. MajorÂâ€" usually tragicÂâ€" events that occur in the story serve as catalysts for Jurgiss dramatic, almost upsetting, transformations. There were four major turning points in Jurgiss life: after he loses his job and is forced to work at a fertilizer mill; when he loses his wife and children; when he is incorporated into the criminal and political underworlds; and when he picks his life†¦show more content†¦[The] joy of the unbound life (215), appealed to Jurgis greatly, but his conscience was not the ‘yelling-at-you type, and so when Jurgis was wasting a large sum of money, that he had earned from two weeks of wo rk, on drinks and women, his conscience just sat in the sidelines helpless until the party was over, and it could do its job. His recent actions would have appalled the Jurgis that first came to America, with his idealistic virtues, seemingly flawless personality, and strong happy familyÂâ€" but this Jurgis was lost. In his situation, most would have lost all hope, possibly committing suicide, and would have not seen that most everyone gets a second chance, and he had to be sent to jail again to receive it. After leaving jail, Jurgis had the opportunity to become incorporated into a life of thievery, with a man he met the first time he was in jail, Jack Duane, and together the two partners robbed people of money and jewelry, and soon it bothered Jurgis not to see a man harmed after he was mugged by the pair. A month ago Jurgis had all but perished ofShow MoreRelated Upton Sinclairs Purpose in Writing The Jungle Essay1141 Words   |  5 PagesUpton Sinclairs Purpose in Writing The Jungle Upton Sinclair wrote this book for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, he tries to awaken the reader to the terrible living conditions of immigrants in the cities around the turn of the century. Chicago has the most potent examples of these conditions. Secondly, he attempts to show the advantages of socialism in helping to remedy the problems of a society such as the one that exists in Chicago at this time. Sinclair accomplishes