I was watching a local housing project resident on TV one night. The camera panned over a roach nest behind a sagging wall as she complained about poor maintenance and demanded that the Sarasota Housing Authority send a crew to fix her apartment. “We have rights, too, you know,” she said angrily.

But was this woman keeping up her side of the welfare bargain? Looking at her dirty apartment, it seemed liked she wasn’t. And why was she — unemployed, with plenty of time on her hands — demanding repairs instead of asking for tools and training so she could do the work herself? Welfare is a two-way street. Ideally it’s a hand up, not a hand out. We seem to have lost that thought somewhere along the way, and we need to get it back. And we can, once we get beyond the old-style “liberal vs. conservative” folderol and start thinking of new ways to deal with people who are having trouble finding jobs or having trouble making ends meet even if they work.