text: welfare reform idea? what do you think? welfare has destroyed the american family. the family is the basic unit of cohesive civilization. destroy it and civilization will not last. when you give monetary rewards to families when the father leaves, guess what happens? when you give monetary rewards to mothers who have multiple children out of wedlock that they cannot afford, guess what they will do? who suffers? the children. we have grown men who father babies, leave, and have no idea or inkling of what their responsibilities are or how they are supposed to behave because they grew up fatherless themselves. i propose real welfare reform. i have written my congressmen with this idea. we have been successful at kicking single people off the welfare roles, but the mothers of children still are getting a free ride. do i propose kicking them off? no. i propse that they be made to do what i had to do when i was single and poor, get a roomate. i say instead of giving a mother a modern comfortable, private apartment at our expense, they be paired up. not only will that decrease costs, it will give the children two parents instead of one. the mothers can take turns babysitting which will save on child care costs. the mothers will then have more time to work on getting out of their situation. if this sounds cuel to some, so what. welfare shouldn't be a pleasant experience. people should be induced to remove themselves from that situation as soon as they can. i think it would be a posotive step! ah, the good ol' myth of the welfare mother.  1.  women do not have children specifically to get more welfare benefits.  welfare pays somewhere around $90 a month per child.  counter that with the cost it takes to feed, clothe, house and provide medical care for that child.  it does not make economic sense to have a child in order to get an extra $90.  you will be spending more on that child than you are making.    2.  welfare has not "destroyed the american family."  the divorce and single parenthood rate among welfare recipients and non-welfare recipients is comparable.  3.  you are going to stop fathers from abandoning their children by...punishing the child and the mother?  how does making the child and the mother live in overcrowded conditions a la tenements make fathers more responsible for their children?  4.  "a modern comfortable, private apartment."  have you actually set foot into public housing?  wouldn't a smarter thing to do be to have greater access to birth control and safe, legal abortions in poorer areas?  poor areas usually have a dearth of clinics.  wouldn't a smarter thing to do be have sex education that teaches folks how to avoid pregnancy and diseases in school?  wouldn't a smarter thing to be to give incentives to two-parent families on welfare, to fathers who support their children, and penalties to fathers who do not?