Just a side note before getting into this blog, The Young Political Radical now has Twitter - I highly suggest following it as there will be important announcements coming out over the next week which will give readers the opportunity to express their opinions directly. Follow @YoungPolRadical (twitter.com/youngpolradical)
Welfare - the cushion to a hard fall; the system designed to protect the quality of life for those who, due to whatever reason, become unemployed or ill. It's creation was a direct result of the Liberal reforms in the early 20th century and began with the Old-Age Pensions act which ensured that those too old to work were able to be secure in income after retirement; national insurance, school meals, sick pay and benefits were all introduced within twenty years of 1910 in some form or another.
The reason we have a welfare system is due to the World Wars where soldiers would return from fighting fascism and cruel overlords, only to find they themselves were ruled by the very same type of person they were ordered to kill. They were tired of being sent to the field while politicians sat neatly in their leather chairs and enjoyed the finer things in life - their sense of disgust at the inequality and unimaginable divide of society formed the labour unions and universal suffrage.
The government also saw value in ensuring that their work force was kept to a high standard of health: a sick workforce is a less productive workforce, and a less productive workforce produces ineffective profits. It was of mutual benefit to both sides and fast forward to today we face the exact same situation that they faced: a government who entitles itself to the finer things in life while the workforce slave away their life and soul to try and make a livable standard for themselves and their families.
Welfare is our morality as a nation, it's how we wish to treat one another; pick one another up when we fall and support people to realize their ambitions and fight their hard times. It's our moral instinct that we do not believe someone should be left to rot because they are ill and cannot work. We do not base the value of a person on the shoes they can produce or the gears they can oil, we base it on the fact that human life is precious and deserves nurturing We hope that the contributions we make go to our children to help their road in life, or our parents so that they can enjoy their few years of relaxation before death.
I don't think the Conservative government understands that its our money - we paid into it for ourselves - and it should be our choices where taxation and national insurance are spent.
We struggle each and every day while those who who cause this mess live the life of pleasure. The working class are suffering for this more than the bankers.
Welfare is an entitlement because we are not handed it for nothing; we, our parents, and our children have, do and will all pay into the system so that no one is left behind to rot, despite what the Conservatives may wish. It's our right to access it, for it's OUR savings which we give the government to keep safe. It's not the play thing for politicians to decide how to waste.
I turn 20 this year and already I am losing my faith for a secure future. Ever single day I wake up and wish I hadn't; I wake up and think that I must be still asleep and dreaming of a George Orwell book. Alas no, this is very much real and we must defend ourselves against the slaughtering dogs in Parliament.
If we don't fight, if we allow ourselves to fall silent, then they have already won, and they will use their victory over you to embody your blood into nothing more than a machine; a play thing for their amusement.
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