Why can't we Conservatives do a better job of expressing our concern for the down-trodden and impoverished?

[Griffin]

I don't think that we have a problem showing that we care about the poor. It's the media, and the liberal left, that have a problem with our ideas. Empowerment is something that is huge in our party. Conservatives and Liberals alike want to help the poor but we go about it in different ways. Republicans call for programs that allow people to rise about their circumstances, whereas Democrats propose an ever-increasing Welfare State. These social programs, such as EBT cards for example, have become very bloated in my view. People abuse the system, and rather than using the dole to empower themselves to rise above, they instead utilize it to become more and more dependent. In my view, no, it is not the federal government's role to provide for everyone's needs. These issues should be left to the states, as the reserved powers in the 10th Amendment imply. However, the responsibility that we have, as Americans, is to promote programs that empower our citizens, instead of creating dependency. Liberals will claim that the funding to these social programs are necessary, and some of those claims may be valid. But with a deficit approaching $17 trillion dollars, it is obvious that the programs at the top are in desperate need of fiscal responsibility and reform.