I was in the U. S. Navy from 1964 to 1972. I’m going to tell you about two men I met while aboard ship.
The first was a Chief Petty Officer, a Machinist Mate (mechanic, essentially). He had risen to CPO fairly quickly, as such things go and, once he made CPO, he kicked back. He had no desire to rise to Senior Chief or Master Chief. CPOs, he explained, have it made. He’s high enough up in the hierarchy that he doesn’t have to do actual, physical work. He can delegate pretty much everything to the First Class petty officers below him. He spent most of his typical work day in the Chiefs’ quarters drinking coffee and BSing with his buddies. CPO was his dream job.
The second fellow was a diesel mechanic, a really good one. He was not, like the chief, a lifer. He just wanted to finish his four-year enlistment and get out so he could go home and get on welfare. When he first told me this, I had a good laugh. But he insisted, “No, really, man, I’m gonna go on welfare.”
He went on to explain that he had friends back home that were on welfare and “doing fine.” They had time to go visit their girlfriends, watch TV — do whatever they wanted to do every day. The had him pegged as a chump for working at all (by joining the navy).
His mom had been on welfare and that’s how he grew up. It was a normal part of his life and there was no stigma because all the neighbors were on welfare too. (This was back when it was actually called ‘welfare’ instead of an ‘entitlement’ and there were, in some circles, stigma attached to living at the expense of taxpayers.)
Paraphrasing: “But you’re a really good mechanic. You could make good money. Why would you want to go on welfare?”
The answer was “Why would I want a job when welfare is good enough?”
It saddened me.
Some of you doubtless thought me insensitive when, in another thread, I said that government programs put poverty within the reach of more people. But it’s true. Government programs that provide a “good enough” living rob people of any incentive to better themselves, or even pull their own weight. That’s a shame.
I mentioned the CPO not because he was on a government program or in poverty, but to illustrate that some people simply have no desire to better themselves. They find a spot that’s good enough and are happy to stay there.
My mechanic friend was satisfied with a lower standard of living than the chief. But satisfied nonetheless. I think that having to get a job would have made him a better person And society would have been better off.