Welfare Bullies and Demagogues

Written by Failsauce

Tuesday, 06 October 2009 10:30

In most of the politically-oriented conversations I have been involved in, regardless of the topic, a conservative will inevitably point to the neediest population as the root of all evil. I call this welfare bullying. However, with people like Rush Limbaugh polluting the airwaves, it is perhaps more accurately described as demagoguing. With President Obama in office and the current focus on health care reform, this manner of shitheadery is more pronounced than ever.

I have heard it all. Poor people are lazy, good-for-nothings looking for responsible Americans (me) to support them. They were raised that way. They are the epitome of immorality, likely abusers of sex and drugs. It’s not my fault they made all the wrong choices. They are the anti-America and everything we stand for. (presumably awesome work ethics or the American Dream of building a mountain of debt).

Yes, there is nothing as disgustingly pathetic as a poor person. When I see one, I am simultaneously nauseated by their poorness and grateful for my superior lot in life. Good thing I don’t eat in restaurants or stay in hotels where some of them work. Did I say work? I meant looking for a hand out.

One theory explaining welfare bullying is that it is comforting to believe being poor is a simple matter of choice. If it is a choice, you can choose not to be poor. Just like people in more debt than they could ever hope to pay off in their lifetime choose to pay mortgages greater than their worth on the market.

This popular conservative notion begs the question: seriously?

I could write a handsomely thick novel listing all of the professions in which the poor work and the wealthy benefit. Salons, hotels, restaurants, retail stores, factories, schools. I could detail the various situations in which hard-working people find themselves cast out of the diminishing middle class, no doubt humiliated outcasts in an otherwise perfect America. Natural disasters, illness, layoffs/outsourcing, recessions. Or perhaps I should mention that the top 20% of American earners control 85% of the total wealth in America, leaving a mere 15% for the rest of us to squabble over.

No, facts are not good enough for the demagogues.

Let’s take a look at the various forms of welfare in America: food, housing, utilities, and medical treatment. Those poor people are super demanding. They must feel awfully entitled to want things like food in their bellies and a roof over their head in exchange for their 40 plus hours a week. Who do they think they are?

If you do your own shopping, you have encountered a member of the working poor. What if every person earning at or below the federal poverty line took a month off of work and shopping? Commerce in America would come to a grinding halt.

Why should you, the welfare bully, help pay for the health insurance of someone who has the audacity to work for less? Because, like it or not, we are all dependent on each other. That makes you needy too.

The opinions expressed by the writer are the opinions of the writer and their interpretation of shitheadery.

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