"I know firsthand about welfare and welfare dependency because of my own life, living seven years in and out,” says Star Parker, founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE).

Parker, also a syndicated columnist, explains what she thinks are the actual steps out of poverty and why our government should have no role in welfare in America.

Started as part of the Lyndon Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s, the War on Poverty has been anything but effective, according to Parker. “This whole notion that we should even have a 'war on poverty' dismisses the fact that individuals have a role in their own lives,” she says.



Parker sat down with Reason.tv's Tracy Oppenheimer to talk about her own experiences with the welfare system, and how she wants to reform it, even beyond the historic changes to welfare in the 1990s.

About 8 minutes. Shot by Paul Detrick, Zach Weissmueller, and Sharif Matar; edited by Oppenheimer.

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