Your tax dollars at work ~ By Patrice Lewis

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

By Patrice Lewis Posted: January 23, 2010 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2010 A great sadness has befallen some friends of mine. They are expecting their first grandchild. My friend "Linda" has two stepchildren. Bob, her 19-year-old stepson, is a decent and responsible young man who brings her great joy. Jane, her 21-year-old stepdaughter, has done little but spread misery and conflict her entire life. From the moment Linda married her husband when Jane was 5, the girl was trouble. Most of Jane's time was spent with her biological mother, but when it was time for the children to visit their father, Jane lost no opportunity to create havoc in Linda's house. As Jane entered her teenage years, the havoc grew worse. She delved into drinking, drugs, prostitution, theft and death threats against her father's second family. It got to the point where she was placed in a lock-up facility when she was 16. She was "sprung" on her 18th birthday and happily continued her descent into hell with a couple of suicide attempts, more death threats against her extended family and other joyous expressions of love. Linda's husband, once his legal obligations of child support were over, refused to give Jane a penny because he knew how it would be spent. Jane supported herself by sponging off her mother, selling drugs and occasional excursions into the world's oldest profession. And now, at age 21, she's pregnant. This was inevitable, of course, but it brings great stress and sorrow to Linda and her husband. "I pray she doesn't have an abortion," I wrote to Linda. "I pray she gives the baby up for adoption." "Oh, she won't," Linda wrote back. "She's thrilled to be pregnant because it means a free ride for her. She thinks the baby is the answer to all her money woes. She knows welfare will cover it. She's already signed up and, since she's pregnant, she's already approved." At 21, Jane is an expert at manipulating the system. So there you have it. Your tax dollars at work. While welfare was created for the most humane of reasons – no one wants to see mothers with small children begging on the street – the Law of Unintended Consequences meant that women are encouraged to have illegitimate babies. Or, to put it another way, women are no longer discouraged by economic hardship or societal standards not to have illegitimate babies. This isn't rocket science, nor is it news. It's just tragic. There's a line from the 1940 movie version of "Pride and Prejudice" with Greer Garson and Lawrence Olivier. "You must learn, Mrs. Collins," intones the haughty and condescending Lady Catherine de Bourgh, "to draw a firm line between the deserving poor and the undeserving." Off-hand, that remark sounds callous and snotty. Yet the more I think upon it, the more I can't help but apply it to Jane. READ FULL STORY >