State of South Carolina secondary Archives: on Welfare & Poverty

Ben Carson: We the people--not government--should take care of indigent

CARSON: My stance is that, we the people have the responsibility to take care of the indigent in our society. It's not the government's job. You can read the constitution all you want, it never says that it is the government's job and I think where we've gotten confused. In the old days of America, if it was harvest time and the farmer fell down and broke his leg, everybody pitched in and harvested his crops for him. We have a history a taking care of each other. Starting in the 1920's, the government started getting involved in everything. It kept growing, metastasizing. By the time we got to the 1960s, LBJ was saying, "we, the government, are going to eliminate poverty." $19 trillion later, 10 times more people on food stamps, more poverty, more welfare, broken homes. Everything is much worse. And that's because it's not their job. It's our job.

Chris Dodd: No drug tests for welfare recipients

A: Well, not necessarily. I think the country gets uneasy about going around and testing us all the time. We’re over-tested already as it is People need welfare for their families and children. There may be addicts that need that help and assistance. To deprive them of that because they have an illness seems to me the wrong direction to be going in. Let’s be more respectful.

Henry McMaster: Require able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work

Hillary Clinton: Hedge funds incentivize risk, but need regulation

A: America is a great place because we have an entrepreneurial economy. We have people who are willing to invest their money in new enterprises. And one of the other reasons we're a great country is because we've learned over the years how to regulate that, so nobody gets an unfair advantage--we have a framework within which our free market system operates. It's exciting to represent both New York City, the global capital market leader, and yet I also represent a big state where there are a lot of poor people and people who have no access to health care or affordable college. They're worried about their futures. We've got to get back to having a Democratic president who will set the rules, so that we can continue to build our economy, we can inspire and incentivize people to take those risks, but we begin to repair the damage that has been done by this president and Republican Congress.

John Edwards: Despite mistake on $400 haircut, understands poverty

A: Well, that was a mistake, which we've remedied. It was simply a mistake. But if the question is whether I live a privileged and blessed lifestyle now, the answer to that's yes. A lot of us do. But it's not where I come from. And I've not forgotten where I come from. Many people know that my dad worked in textile mills all his life. The reason I'm running for president of the United States is so that everybody in this country can have the same kind of chances I've had.

Larry Elder: Compassion is our job, not the Federal government's

Marco Rubio: Poverty means free enterprise not reaching people

Nikki Haley: Trade welfare check for dignity of paycheck

Previously, with Washington having its way, we would handle welfare recipients by asking a few simple questions, effectively checking a box, and handing over a check. Easy in, easy out.

But no one improves their lot in life that way. Now we do things differently. We dig deeper. We ask them about their skills, what they are good at. And then, we find them a job. Yes, it seems like a simple concept, but here's the deal: it works. Since starting this program in 2011, we have moved more than 20,000 South Carolinians from welfare to work.

We should all be proud of this program. But more than that, we should be proud of those workers, those South Carolinians who traded the false stability of a welfare check for the true dignity of a well-earned paycheck.

Ted Cruz: Regulations like ObamaCare lead to layoffs of the poorest

CRUZ: The people who have been hurt the most in the Obama economy have been the most vulnerable. Big government, massive regulation, don't work. Small businesses are the heart of the economy. My dad fled Cuba in 1957. He was 18. He washed dishes making 50 cents an hour. Today, my dad is a pastor. If we had ObamaCare in place then, the odds are high my father would have been laid off. We need to lift the burdens on small businesses.

Thomas Ravenel: New Deal & Great Society are examples of federal overreach

Ravenel argued that history shows the New Deal and Great Society programs passed by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson are examples of federal overreach that should be eliminated. For example, the government could dole out Medicaid funding to the states in the form of block grants and let the states run the programs from there, Ravenel said. That could help eliminate bureaucratic red tape and encourage each state to experiment and innovate. "It's nothing about cutting anything, it's about being more efficient," he said.