Analysis Of Leslie Reynolds Misuse Of Welfare In American Low Class Citizens

Improved Essays
In Leslie Reynolds’ “Misuse of Welfare in American Low Class Citizens,” she employs various logical methods to support her argument that welfare in the United States is being misused by our citizens. Reynolds relies on definition, past occurrences, personal and public experience, and also tries to find different solutions for this heavily impacted issue. Reynolds believes something should be done to prevent the many low class recipients from abusing and misusing the welfare system. For example, the government could restart the welfare system, have stricter guidelines, and have more monitoring of the system itself, according to Reynolds. Reynolds weaves her argument together with reasonable appeals that carefully build authentic yet strong and grounded ethos, speaking to the audience about shared challenges and problems, common truths, and the complex responsibility of rehabilitating people to become more truthful and sincere.
Reynolds begins constructing her argument with what the issue is—that the low class citizens of America are misusing and abusing the welfare system—with definition and explains welfare is a system formed by government to help people in need. As soon as the reader lays eyes on the page she starts explaining what the welfare system is and does. Reynolds explains in order for the system to work it takes money from working individuals in the form of
…show more content…
Reynolds persuades her audience that welfare in the United States has gotten out of hand and is being misused and abused entirely too much through definition, facts, and experience. “Misuse of Welfare in American Low Class Citizens” provides a lucrative example of the many ways that logos, ethos, and pathos combine in efforts to change how we see the world and, ultimately, how we experience

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Jason DeParle's “American Dream”, is a book that depicts the hardships of the recipients of welfare during a time of welfare-reform. Focusing on 3 women, their children, and the father figures who were perhaps less existent in their lives, DeParle tells a story of how these individuals function socially, culturally, politically and economically. in a city that was the heart of welfare-reform in the 90s. Readers will quickly become immersed from the start in welfare-reform stories and how they effected the decisions made by 3 women in attempt to better their lives as well as their children, all while trying to “play by the rules”. DeParle does an excellent job at coloring in the lives of cousins Jewell, Opal, and Angie who are living in Chicago…

    • 637 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They must depend on word-of-mouth instruction from the welfare worker-or from other person whom they have good reason to mistrust. They do not know what right they have, what deadlines and requirement they face, what opinions they might to choose to exercise. They are half-citizens. Their rights exist in print but not in fact” (232). Without knowing how to read…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In some ways, people are tired of the issues of welfare and the label is a problem Wiley said” “ the real welfare in this country is going to the Department of Defense, the railroad, the airlines and other corporations through tax loopholes.” Wiley declared that he would reach out across class and racial lines, building a coalition of the working poor, the unemployed, senior citizens and the lower middle-class ( those making 5,000 to $15,000 per year on such issues as national health insurances, consumer rights, housing, daycare, and tax reform. He explained that he was not abandoning his original mission, but expanding it. Welfare was only one of many paths to his ultimate goal: “ income redistribution.”…

    • 1034 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Gupta discusses the history, law, statistics, and personal effects of mandated drug testing in order to make a well-rounded argument. Gupta also uses an appeal to the emotion of human dignity and privacy in her argument as she repeatedly claims that mandated drug testing is a violation of personal privacy and degrades human dignity. Regarding the use of particular language within these arguments, Rector uses specific phrases to promote the idea that welfare members chose the life that they live. Rector specifically describes welfare members as, “able-bodied adults” and as “self-sufficient”, leaving room for a wide range of difference to be ignored. Rector also claims that drug use can be the sole reason why individuals are on welfare in the first place.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The novel, The Working Poor: Invisible in America, dives deep to what it’s like to live above, below and everything between the poverty line. You may of noticed that we have government benefits to help out people in need, but not everyone is in favor of that. The wealthy population of America constantly tries to overshadow people who live at the poverty level. While people at poverty level are struggling to get by, the Wealthy population tries to pay off the government so they no longer have to be taxed.…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    SNAP and Drug Felons The author states that “a just distribution of goods, opportunities and liberties is the one that produces the greatest amount of welfare” (Hinman, pg. 227). Welfare is something that as a people we have provided to the poor throughout the centuries. Wealthy people and churches provided aid to the needy since the 17th century” (Mandell and Schram, pg. 33). By the 1930’s the American Government had assumed control and began to oversee welfare programs in America” (Mandell and Schram, pg. 33).…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Barbara Ehrenreich’s book Nickel and Dimed illuminates the issues that are surrounded by being an individual that experiences poverty. This essay will take the information that was provided by Ehrenreich’s experience and compare it to social welfare policy in the United states to see if it is helping those who are affected by poverty. The essay will also consider the ideology that surrounds the government and if that has any effect on the social welfare state in the current era. Social welfare policies are important for poverty but often do not have enough traction to accomplish what they are set out for.…

    • 1528 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Welfare Essay Have you ever felt really confident about something you did in life, and then just have it crushed by somebody else’s opinion of you. Some may not realize that people do try to improve the situation that they are in, but sometimes it does not work out. Larkin Warren, the author of “I Was a Welfare Mother” wanted to inform people that it is not fair to judge people, especially if you do not know what they are going through. It can be hard in the real world as you grow up; you are not a little kid anymore that likes to play with barbie dolls or mini racecars. You become an adult with more responsibilities such as paying bills, rent, a car, a family of your own, etc.…

    • 633 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Welfare has always been a major point in today’s politics; every election the debate is brought forth once more and again when the Federal budget comes to the floor. It is assumed by many in the population that the program is for the lazy and encourages the poor to not find work or continues to have dependents to increase the amount of benefits they can receive. Many argue that it is the “right” of the individual to receive aid from the government when they cannot support their family. Others agree help is warranted but there must be limits set to avoid fraud or the program becomes not an aid but a way of life. Over the course of our nation’s history welfare reform has taken on many new faces and gone through many struggles.…

    • 1418 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Welfare mother and terms like it, reflect ideas found widely across society and society’s norms, these ideas interlock with each other to distribute power unevenly. First and foremost, the term “welfare mother” is one that takes the positive condonation of the word “mother” commonly associated with neutering, helpfulness and other wonderful characteristics, and proceeds to completely destroy these ideas for whom the term is being used to describe. When the term “welfare mother” is used, people generally think of mothers whom are “irresponsible, sexually promiscuous, and immoral behavior of the poor” and overall a bad mother. Within the short description of the term welfare mother McCormack demonstrates intersectionality large role with in the term.…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Today in America there is a big debate on the current state of welfare programs and its recipients. Some think we should do away with welfare all together and let everyone fend for themselves; while others believe that they are helpful for struggling families. Then there are the ones in the middle, like me. I believe that the current state of America’s welfare programs are causing their recipients to become too dependent and it should require you to be employed in some form to receive a check each month. In Matthew Spalding’s “Why the U.S. Has a Culture of Dependency”, he claims that “The problem is that Washington is building a culture of dependency, with ever-more people relying on an ever-growing federal government to give them cash or benefits.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article The Law is All Over, by Austin Sarat, aims to understand the role the law plays in the life of those who are a part of the welfare system. Sarat begins his search to understand how the law either works with or works against those on welfare, by working alongside someone who is a part of the welfare system, Spencer. Spencer stated, for him the law is all over, he is a part of a system which is made up of rules and laws which for the most part he has no understanding of. Sarat furthers his search by interviewing other recipients of welfare, and their lawyers. He agrees with Spencer, that for the welfare poor the law is all over, it plays a role in their life in a bigger way than it would in the life of someone who is not on welfare.…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    DiLascio describes welfare is his article as “a common blanket term used to describe several different types of public assistance programs.” Welfare was designed to help ones with little to no income. It allowed families to purchase healthy foods and the expenses of living when their income would not. The welfare system was overtaken by the United States congress in 1996. As a result of this take over “states were granted the ability to administer drug tests to applicants for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) public assistance program before approving benefits” (DiLascio,…

    • 1140 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In a capitalistic based economy such as the United States, it creates incomes that are small and large. Having an unequal amount of large or low incomes is called income inequality. Income inequality has become a major problem in the United States, increasing 24% from 1968 to 2012” (Cochran). The gap between the rich and the poor is growing at an ever increasing rate. In the United States the gap is measured by relative poverty, or “being below one-half the nations income” (Cochran).…

    • 1676 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Harvey believes that scholars that adopt a new theory quickly are vulnerable to use the work in an abusive way that will benefit their own thinking. An example of this misinterpretation can be the work of Lawrence Mead who, like Lewis, was concerned with poverty and how it affects society. In his work “The Logic of Workfare; The Underclass and work Policy” Mead examines the lower class in 1989 and focuses heavily on the number of jobs and their availability to the lower class. This writing is used mainly to compare the welfare and workfare systems Welfare is an assistance provided by the city, state, and or national government of a financial support for citizens. Workfare is a system in which the recipients of welfare must obtain or actively seek employment in order to receive financial support from the government.…

    • 1932 Words
    • 8 Pages
    • 3 Works Cited
    Great Essays