COLUMN: Is It a Helping Hand/

From Adam Scioli's "The Old Boys' Club," Fall '93 From Adam Scioli's "The Old Boys' Club," Fall '93Being solicited by the begging masses that roam the streets of University City is certainly far from alien to any Penn student who has happened to see the light of day during his or her tenure as a student. I'm a product of the free spending Reagan generation and am up to my ears in interest accumulated debt. I recognize that I may be more fortunate than most and have been given some very special opportunities, but at the same time I am going to have to work very hard to pay off my bills. No one is going to be there to bail me out of my financial troubles, not my parents and certainly not the federal government. Just like the rest of my graduating class I am currently making plans for the future and eventually will have to find a job. No one will see me begging for spare change in front of the WaWa next year. What the hell is "spare" change, anyway? Many of those who beg for money are, like myself, of able mind and body, and can grab the bull of life by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. They can do whatever they put my mind to, but apparently they won't. The whole notion of "entitlements" is one that should infuriate the working man. Equality of opportunity is sacred to democratic principle, of course, but attempting to approach a system of equal economic security is quite a different story. Simply, governmental attempts to construct a more equitable economic scale undermine the capitalist, democratic state. They destroy incentive and crush with it individual drive and ambition. Once the individual is relieved of the burden of responsibility to himself, he becomes a dependent. In fact, the individual is stripped of his power to produce for himself, and thus loses the capability of being proud of personal achievement. Rather than give handouts out of pity, we must accept the fact that there are folks out there who make a conscious decision that they will never work. The benefits they receive, be they government or privately contributed, are adequate enough to give them reason to remain in a state of non-productivity. This attitude is not unique to a certain few, and may draw others to do the same, perpetuating a whole class of learned dependents. Meanwhile those of us who are not dependent constantly face their incessant begging, and the subsequent guilt that comes with giving or not giving. As John Stuart Mill wrote in 1859, government entitlements "...convert the active and ambitious part of the public into hangers-on of the government." Instead of encouraging these people to take on responsibility for their own lives we are taking them on as our responsibility, which they most certainly are not. By now, these grants of economic opportunity, in theory, should have given the recipients the necessary "lift" to pull themselves out of poverty. However, poverty has been far from eradicated, and the list of dependents is growing rather than shrinking. People have no doubt been trapped by the very system which claims to have saved them. A welfare culture has reared its ugly head and has been given no reason to go away. Why can't these people look at a job scrubbing floors as the beginning of a path of hope, taking pride in the shine of their accomplishment? This is because the governments offerings are far too permissive and attractive. Most everyone must start somewhere and recognize that many successful people are forced to start off in "the mail room," and it is a worthwhile sacrifice on route to a long term goal. The notion of equality is further undermined when one considers the true meaning of the word. How is it that the person being supported can consider himself to be his supporter's equal? Dependents, after all, are always subjugated, be it right or wrong. So the next time you enter the WaWa with your hard-earned money, consider the ramifications of your "merciful" gift to the poor and disadvantaged. Realize that your contribution is one of many, and realize what it is you are actually contributing to. Adam Scioli is a senior Political Science major from Rockville, Maryland. The Old Boys' Club appeared alternate Thursdays.

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