Require some kind of work -- picking up rubbish beside the highway, cleaning public toilets (are there any of them remaining? They used to exist.), as "greeters" at public buildings, neighborhood playground attendants, whatever -- anything to get them off the couch as a requirement for their "entitlements" would help people form some kind of work ethic. In Germany, every public restroom I saw had an attendant collecting 25 cents to use the facilities. I assume they keep it clean and well-supplied as part of their duties. When I didn't have 25 cents at one place, the woman outside the restroom let me go ahead in. I left there, went to an ATM, got change and went back to pay her. She was a bit surprised that I came back and we both laughed about it. Anyone know how long that has been going on? This was in Cologne, near the cathedral, and the area was thick with immigrants. Did that have anything to do with it in that particular location? I thought at first it was unique to that place, but found restroom attendants everywhere I went.
Require work suited to the abilities of the welfare recipient and soon, I suspect and hope, they will find employment elsewhere that pays more, but no work, no check. Even if they have children, someone else on welfare could care for those children as their employment responsibility. It may seem unkind, even brutal to a progressive, but it might succeed. Bill Clinton took steps in this direction as president, but failed to follow through.