When I hear people talk about whether or not the homeless or poor single moms or those on disability or any other group that receives some form of public assistance "deserve" it, I am struck by how profoundly they are missing the point.

Sure, it's nice to help the indigent cause it's a charitable thing to do. Ok, fine, I don't want to take away from the kindness and benevolence of it, but caring for the indigent also fulfills a logistically necessary purpose in society.

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The fact is that its not like the indigent just evaporate into thin air if you don't care for them. It's not like if you don't give food stamps they just stop needing to eat, or if you don't provide rental assistance, they just magically transport into some new home somewhere else.

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Human beings are animals ultimately, they will do what they need to survive. It's not like they will just go "oh yeah, I guess I don't deserve any help, they are right, I'll just sit here and quietly cease to exist". No, they will do something, anything, to eat, to find shelter or keep the shelter they have. To keep their kids housed and fed, etc. Maybe some of them would "get off their lazy asses and get a job" sure, maybe....some. But the vast majority wouldn't, cause if it was in them to do so, they would have before getting that low.

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There is always some percent of the population that in indigent, this seems to be a human universal. It always has been the case and always will be, and as a civilization, having some communally funded or maintained way to care for these folks has always been preferrable to having the entire bulk of the indigent population running around doing whatever terrible things the last desperation of hunger or exposure might drive them to, or in the worse cases, when the indigent population grows large enough, having an outbreak of food riots and peasant uprisings.

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So, when you look at the welfare budget, you shouldn't be asking yourself "do they deserve this", you should be asking yourself, "is paying this preferable to the expense and consequences of dealing with that same population and what they may do if these resources are taken away."

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One could argue, from a behavioral evolution perspective, that the very feeling of charitability and benevolence evolved to address exactly this in communal animals, that it is better for the overall health of the tribe if there is a deep-seated impulse to help the needy, as letting the needy fend for themselves would be more harmful to the tribe.

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