This seems to me a typical US response. Let me give you a perspective from the rest of the world. I've lived for years in multiple countries on multiple continents, so I'm not just talking out my backside.
In the rest of the world, the poor people vote for health care, welfare, and unemployment insurance. This is because they want that safety for themselves if something goes wrong. They recognize that these programs are largely insurance. They pay into them in the expectation that most of the time nothing goes wrong, and they're not getting their moneys worth.
But when something does go wrong, the insurance is there to help them. In that situation, they get far more out of it than they put in.
Their decision to pay insurance is a rational one, based on cost/benefit analysis. It's the same as your decision to buy life insurance, or fire insurance on your house. (Car insurance is usually mandated, so I'll ignore that...)
Sure, there are scammers. But the scammers of these programs are individuals. Their impact is limited. The scams done by corporations, and people with the right connections far outweigh the scams done by Joe Average on welfare.
In the US, the poor people vote for no health care, no welfare, and no unemployment benefits. They also vote for lower taxes on the rich (corporate, inheritance, etc.). They claim this attitude is because they don't want idiots on welfare spending MY money.
You might be well intentioned, but the rest of the world thinks your approach is crazy. Not "Gosh, that's crazy!". But "We, the jury, find the defendant not guilty by reason of mental defect".
The disparity between rich and poor in the US has grown enormously in the past 20 years. And it's all because the average joe has bought a line of horse twaddle about "independence" and "welfare mom living off of MY money".
The rich people who've sold you that crap are laughing all the way to the bank. And Joe Average is left wondering why he's doing everything he's told... and is still poorer than his parents.