Thinking people should fend for themselves and thinking the government shouldnt fend for people are two different things.
I think private charities are fantastic and they do great work. They also have much less in the way of admin expenses than government programs, meaning people get more of the money that is given to help them. It use to be that people would donate part of their pay check to charities. Now, with taxes being so high for the lower and middle class, people dont have the money to do that anymore.
I have a friend who is going through rough times. She works part time and takes care of her elderly grandmother and father who refused to get a job most of his life. One week she picked up a lot of other peoples shifts. She worked doubles, took a 3 hour bus ride home, got an hour of sleep, and went right back to work another double. She was expecting a decent check, except she got pushed into a higher tax percentage that week because of the hours. She barely made more money working all those hours. When she complained about it on facebook, her "friends" told her that the government needed that money to give to programs for those that were in need. Meanwhile, she cant afford food.
So yes, I have a problem with how social programs are run in this country. Working more hours is discouraged. When I was a manager I had people ask to work.less hours so they could get their benefits instead of earning more. Thta is proof of a meases up system. As for my friend, all her "liberal" friends just told her to suck it up because other people needed her tax money. I was the only one who loaned her money for groceries and invited her over for dinner.