Feb 23 2009
America’s Most Vulnerable-Who are They?
I realized I might sound like I don’t care about our most “vulnerable” citizens in some previous posts. I care deeply about our most vulnerable citizens. Where I differ in opinion is in just who the most “vulnerable” are.
Are they illegal immigrants who have had their children here and now their children are American citizens that are entitled to every single benefit we offer? Are they the homeless that wonder our streets even they there are shelters and programs and charities on every corner who are willing to help them? Are they those who live in poverty stricken neighborhoods where selling drugs is the preferred method of making money? Are they those who aren’t willing to work in the fields or McDonald’s or Taco Bell because they can get more from welfare, housing assistance and food stamps or from hustling drugs to kids?
Just who are these most “vulnerable” citizens that our leadership feels we should all give billions to now? Why do we need more for food stamps and public housing? Is it because there are no jobs for these people? If this is the case, why don’t we spend our stimulus money on something that will actually create jobs so they can go to work instead of draw government benefits? There are plenty of head start programs in place for the kids. Not having a babysitter is not a reason to not work. Bad planning and not finishing school or having too many kids is not an excuse. It is called personal responsibility and until we stand up and expect people to have it, we are going to turn into a welfare state!
The truly vulnerable are people like my parents. My Dad had worked since he was 14. He was self employed. He made too much to qualify for medical assistance, but not enough to pay for private insurance. So at 55 when he had a series of strokes and was hospitalized for 3 weeks and came out semi disabled, he had to declare bankruptcy. He lost everything but his house and his truck. He paid his taxes all his life, but when he needed help it wasn’t there. However, if you are here illegally you can get medical. If you don’t bother working, you can get medical. If you have too many kids you can get medical. If you work all your life and pay taxes you can’t until you are at least 62. This is where our system is messed up. People can get on the government dole and just stay there.
We should be focusing on putting people back to work NOT making government programs larger and more expensive.
Our leaders need to wake up and quit making more money available to programs that don’t work in the first place! If we expect people to work, and we create jobs so people can work, we won’t need to spend billions on saving anybody!
As Thomas Jefferson said the democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who are not. When I look at our plans for spending the billions of dollars on “programs” for the vulnerable I begin to believe that Mr. Jefferson could not have said it better….
Wow there is a bit of a glare to the hypocrisy of this posting, let me put my sunglasses on and allow me to retort. You said “Bad planning and not finishing school or having too many kids is not an excuse. It is called personal responsibility and until we stand up and expect people to have it, we are going to turn into a welfare state!” But as regards your own father you seem to think his failure to have devised a plan for his own health care is the responsibility of the state. You can’t have it both ways. Others can go without but not your father. You said, there are “programs and charities on ever corner who are willing to help”, why don’t you refer him to those programs. Maybe it’s because you know they are ineffectual and underfunded to do the job they are attempting. Just maybe you are judging people who you don’t know and they are just as deserving of health care as your father. He has a house and a truck, which is a lot more than plenty people in our society. I mean sorry about the whole bankruptcy but it’s better than sleeping on the street.
I worked in Emergency Room for about 12yrs and have seen these people you think have so much charity available to them and I can tell you from direct observation that your perception about the services available to them is grossly distorted. Many are like your father in that they have worked all their life and now only earn enough to survive and are unable to pay for definitive care. But the little they do earn disqualifies them from assistance.
We do live in a welfare stat, but contrary to your premise we have welfare for the rich. Banking bailouts, tax breaks for those who least need them, farm subsidies for agribusiness and no bid contracts for defense contractors who are driving the procurement process by supporting campaigns of malfeasant public officials.
It’s not our politicians who need to wake up it is us. “The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.” Frederick Douglass I invite you to review my most recent posting as it is in the same vein as yours but with a class conscious perspective as opposed to a classist one. www.nakedemperor.today.com
I agree with you. When you give someone something, they don’t appreciate it as much as if they earned it. The best example I can remember is the projects that used to exist in Louisiana (when I grew up there). These projects were rat infested and covered in graffitti. They were homes for people who didn’t appreciate them.
Dsent your point about class being the dividing line is well taken. It isn’t about race, or prejudice or not wanting to help those truely down on their luck. We used food stamps for a brief period when I was young as well as subsidized lunches. But it was only for a very brief period of time. My Mom went out and took a waitress job and worked her butt off at it, and once she did this, she made too much money to qualify.
You raise a point about two classes-the working class and the elite class. The part of the working class that lives on the government dole for whatever the reason(s) benefits from the elite class. They would like to perpetuate it. The elite class enjoys this as they are helping the working class and it makes them feel good. Problem with this entire theory is that the other part of the working class, you know those of us who dont qualify (or need for that matter) work our butts off to support both classes.
My summation, Lou Dobbs is right on. It is the working class that is being squeezed out even though it is our tax dollars paying for everybody around us!
I wouldn’t NOT want a safety net around those down on their luck, but to encourage this by continuing to dole out more and more with very little over site, is enraging.
You are right about one thing, when discussing this particular subject one could write forever as one thing leads to another.
I look forward to debating these issues in the future!
Jane