There are actually some people left in America who don’t want government assistance! Per this Columbia Daily Tribune article (via Combest), Missouri has the number one participation rate in the country among those eligible for food stamps. I guess we should be proud of that. The social workers in the article sure are:

"We credit a lot of our success to our frontline workers. They’re the ones out there meeting with the public," she said. "They give 110 percent effort day in and day out, and, you know, we have an office in every county and more than one in some places."

Hey — as social programs go, the food stamp program might be the best. So don’t take this as a knock on food stamps, or social workers. It’s just the tone of the article — and I have read others like it, although I searched and failed to find them (one was from the LA Times in Kausfiles last year, If I recall).

Some types, generally of the left-leaning persuasion, just can not understand that people eligible for government aid might still prefer to make it by on their own. That just goes against their entire worldview. So instead of writing that 29 percent of Missourians take a pass on government aid, we get articles that say more needs to be done to ensure that every person eligible is in the system, ’cause it is not possible that they don’t wish to be. That’s it. Rant’s over.