So it seems the best way to help the poor is NOT to simply pay for all their expenses, but rather to pay for just enough for them to survive and begin making their own way in the world.
The American Founders were arguably the most impressive generation of men ever assembled. While many historians have extolled their brilliance, fewer have noted a different quality they shared: character.
One issue that concerned them was an issue that still very much concerns us today: poverty.
When reading quotes from the founding fathers, Ben Franklin’s stood out.
“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.”
-Benjamin Franklin, 1766 (On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor)
“Having been poor is no shame, but being ashamed of it, is.”
– Benjamin Franklin, 1749 (Poor Richard’s Almanac)
“Repeal that [welfare] law, and you will soon see a change in their manners. St. Monday and St. Tuesday, will soon cease to be holidays. Six days shalt thou labor, though one of the old commandments long treated as out of date, will again be looked upon as a respectable precept; industry will increase, and with it plenty among the lower people; their circumstances will mend, and more will be done for their happiness by inuring them to provide for themselves, than could be done by dividing all your estates among them.”
-Benjamin Franklin, May 9, 1753 (letter to Peter Collinson)
What I have read from him seems to indicate that the most effective way to do good for the poor is not to provide them with perpetual assistance, but rather to empower them to overcome poverty and become self-sufficient.
The most important points he made were:
- Providing perpetual assistance can create dependency and hinder self-sufficiency.
- Empowering individuals to take responsibility for their own lives and develop skills can lead to greater prosperity.
- Benjamin Franklin’s approach emphasizes personal responsibility and self-reliance as essential components of overcoming poverty.
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