Government "welfare" is not about "welfare"

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Whenever people speak out against the abuses that come with ever expanding government "welfare", the proponents of government "welfare" insist on twisting our words to somehow mean something we don't. The government wefare system has little to do with helping people out of poverty. In fact, most of it perpetuates poverty. It makes people dependent on the government, then makes it very difficult to get off. Look at the School Lunch program (for example). People who qualify for "Free Lunch" are so dependent on it, they seem to lose the ability to know how to feed their kids when there is no school. That dependency has become such a problem, schools are now expected to feed kids breakfast and dinner. There are even people pushing for schools to offer meals when no school is in session at all. Parents have become so dependent on school meal programs, they have come to expect the schools to feed their kids every day. Just because I speak out against government welfare doesnt' mean I'm against any "safety net" whatsoever. I think there should be a safety net. However, a safety net isn't a hamock. I have spent a lot of my adult life in disaster recovery. Disaster recovery is just that "recovery". It is meant to get people started in the recovery process. It was never meant to remove the consequences of the disaster from people's lives. It is the same with the "safety net". Sure, we can find ourselves in a situation where the bottom has dropped out and we are temporarily unable to support ourselves. That is when a safety net is needed. Family, friends, the church, private organizations, all of these should be turned to first, the government safety net should be the last resort. Why? Because the others are there voluntarily. Since they volunteer to help, they often put limits on the help they can (or are willing to) give. That prevents the needy person from becoming dependent on the help. That is what a safety net is for. On the other hand, most programs in the government "safety net" encourage dependency. They are desigend to create dependency because the people working for the systems must keep up numbers to protect their jobs. Politicians love people dependent on the government, because that translates to power for them. Just because I speak out against government dependency on welfare, does not mean I'm against the government doing anything in the way of welfare. However, I do question the charity of those who think that the government cares about true charity at all.