Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is explaining comments he made last Friday on government assistance to the poor. At a forum, Bauer said the government has gotten out of control. He compared allowing parents to continue using government assistance programs giving children free or reduced meals in school to feeding stray animals. Since then he has gotten national media attention, and faced criticism politicians from both parties.
Lt. Governor Andre Bauer
Bauer says: “You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially the ones that don’t think much further than that.” Bauer told WCSC in Charleston he didn’t mean to compare people to animals, but he was making the point that government dependency needs to be broken.
“Clearly we are breeding a culture of dependency not only in this state, but in this country. Politicians for too long have been too scared to talk about it because of it being politically incorrect,” says Bauer.
Bauer says people should no longer be allowed to ride the system without consequence. He says that he is talking about the parents, not the children. In a new statement released this weekend Bauer says:
Requiring drug testing for adults receiving tax-funded benefits is also just good, plain, common-sense.
Yes, I am speaking out for such requirements, even though they may be “politically incorrect” in the eyes of the news media. It’s better for the children, it’s better for the taxpayers, and, in the end, offering a hand up instead of a hand out will be better for those who have become taxpayer dependents.
Americans are a compassionate people who will always help their brothers who are truly in need. But we cannot and will not allow those who are simply “riding the system” to continue to do so without consequence.
