A lot of it is tied in to this old calvinist (of course) idea of deserving vs undeserving poor. "Undeserving poor" are poor bc they're lazy, shiftless, blah blah blah, with the underlying theological brainworms being that god doesn't love them. Deserving poor have merely been temporarily laid low by circumstance and extending them a helping hand they will return to being a productive member of society!

We've all seen the outcome - plus a lot of "leopards ate my face"/" i'm the only person who deserves help everyone else is a lying cheat"