It ook about 5 minutes to make our purchases, and when we left, there was an SUV parked opposite to us, and it bore this bumper sticker:
...and this one:
...and this one:
You know, it's one thing to disagree with someone... it's even ok to vigorously disagree, but today's conservatives are a really sick bunch.
Conservatives spend so much of their time pissing, moaning, and
Did you know that the amount of money this country spends on "welfare" adds up to about one cent per tax dollar?
One
F***ing
Cent
The Department of Defense gets about 35 cents, Medicaid/medicare/social security gets about 45 cents, The judiciary and education about 4 cents each, between one and three cents for foreign affairs and/or foreign aid, the rest goes to farm subsidies, energy, the sciences, etc...
I don't understand those who promote our grotesque defense expenditures (especially when that money is being spent trying to fight the cold war... that's over, remember?) and cry about spending a penny per tax dollar to help the poor.
If that isn't shameful and greedy, I don't know what is.
Remember, these are the same people that think this country should be run by a bunch of whacked out pseudo-Christian hate-mongers. A wise man once said: "True religion will not let us fall asleep in the comfort of our freedom. Love thy neighbor is not a piece of advice, it's a command"
Another wise man once said that: "whatever you do to the least among you, you also do to me"
That wise man's name was Yeshua... in our language, we call him Jesus.
24 comments:
Oh boy.
Amen to that.
Bill,
Since you are quoting the word, why don't you check out 2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13?
I think a lot of people's distaste for the welfare system comes from seeing it blatantly abused.
I have no problem helping someone who is legitimately in need. There are some people who are incapable of helping themselves, whether due to physical or mental handicap. Also, there are some people who fall on hard times and need a little help until they are back on their feet.
It is the ones who do nothing and expect everything that I have a problem with. I have seen it too many times in my years spent in the public school system.
As a Republican, I am not against welfare - for those who truly need it and deserve it.
The system is flawed - and it has been for many, many years through Democratic and Republican administrations.
I personally think bumper stickers like that refer to the concept that Democrats, traditionally, want to increase welfare. That's their prerogative; the problem comes when they have no plan to improve the system and make sure the money is being spent properly.
It's sort of like when the 2006 elections were going on and Democrats spoke on and on about ending the war. When asked, they had no specific idea HOW they would do that. When elected, they didn't do it.
Talk is cheap - on both sides. It's one thing to say we need to help our fellow man, but it's another (entirely) to help him in an efficient, effective manner. The solution, contrary to popular opinion, is not just throwing more money into the existing program.
Making that mistake would be something that generations to come would never stop paying for.
The bumper stickers that truly piss me off are the "Support our Troops" stickers on the back of SUVs and Hummers. You really want to support our troops? How about not driving gas guzzling monster machines that piss away the fossil fuels our government has sent them over there to appropriate.
well...you ate my earlier comment which was FULL of intelligent insight and learned response.
But I said something like .. there are many people in Australia, also, that object to welfare payments....and complain long and loud about paying taxes to support others. I don't think these people have truly thought through the alternatives, or ever been to a country where they are not blessed with such an enlightened system.
And, wow, 35c in the dollar goes on the defence force and only 1c towards welfare?? It's insane. And only 4c towards education????? (ha ha...you were editing this bit, weren't you! that's why my comment disappeared)
If only we could all just shift our priorities a bit.... 35c towards education...now wouldn't THAT be something!
Wow, I was just going to leave an "I love you" message but see that something more substantial is happening here. Too bad I'm on my third glass of wine in a wicked hot house.
Do folks seriously think people WANT to be poor - do you know how little "welfare" actually provides families? A gallon of milk and loaf of bread costs over $6 in my city - that is one hour of work at the minimum wage. Did you know to rent an apartment for a mom and kid costs well over $1200 a month? And most vouchers only cover up to $700?
Folks, no one WANTS to be poor. But if their schools failed to teach them how to read or add, they didn't get sex ed because conservatives demanded abstinence only "education" and they became pregnant (read THE GIRLS became pregnant and bear the brunt of being "on welfare") and now they are trying to survive on $500-700 of assistance PER MONTH you have got to think that our government's priorities are out of wack.
As always GF thanks for the thoughtful post. My favorite bumper sticker from your neck of the woods?
Who Would Jesus Bomb?
And I was about to shout out an Amen, but I still can't get over the "girlishly whining."
You're better than that. And as a mom of three...I can attest about boyish whining.
Sorry, pet peeve. You know I still heart you.
Happy Hour! Yes...just need to get through the All-Star tournament. Down your neck of the woods. Dale City Baby!!
Amen!
I think most people just don't realize that the majority of people receiving public assistance do so temporarily and are certainly not abusing the system.
Do some poor people feel a sense of entitlement? Yup. Do some rich or well off people feel a similar sense of entitlement? Hell yeah. There are people who want something for nothing in every socioecononmic strata. But the idea that people *want* to be on welfare or *want* their children to grow up to be hoodlums or *want* to worry about how they're going to feed and clothe their children. That idea horrifies me.
Clearly, I need to write a follow up to my recent similar post soon and stop hijacking your comments!
Is welfare abused? Sure, aything can be abused. The problem here is that I never see you compassionate conservaticves, whatever that nonsensensical term means, complain about DOD waste.
The Department of Defense... oh, and the Department of Homeland Security, waste untold billions of dollars with a huge amount of your tax dollar, yet you spend your time railing about the poor, as if they are intentionally poor. By the way, is it just me, or does the offhand use of the word "homeland" sound just a little too much like the word "fatherland"? Just asking.
Regarding the people who do nothing and expect everything... that sounds to me like lots of our middle class... most of whom don't contribute personal military service, and have larger families than the rest of the population because they can afford it, who spend all of their time complaining about taxes. Folks, the larger your family, the lower your general tax burden... the tax burden for your family, gets paid by people with smaller families.
You see, the middle classes tend to see themselves as entitled... probably even more than the lazy poor pepople that so many scream about. The middle classes require, and receive more responsive and better police/fire/EMS protection. The schools in middle class neighborhods are nicer... not because the kids are any better, but because their parents have more money, and vote.... all benefits of better education, folks... which most poor people don't get.
I know that this post has probably pissed of some of the purple kool-aid crowd, but so be it. Maybe you should look at some of your own sense of entitlement.
RWA, you won't get me defending the Democrats in Congress who, like their pusilanimous (sp?) Republican colleagues, went along with this nefarious and immoral plan. Surely they will pay for these deaths as well on judgement day.
ML,
The "girlishly whining" part was all about yanking some chains... take no notice of it... you know me better, eh?
HAHA, like Mamma, the ''girlishly whining'' got my dander up too, heh.
Semantics aside though I am always surprised when I hear people gnash their teeth over welfare when, as has been said, the cost to citizens is almost nothing but more importantly, the abuse to ''the system'' is minimal. As has also been said, very, very few people aspire to be poor. Noboby nobody enjoys raising children on a less than shoe-string budget with extremely limited choices.
We can debate (uselessly and without resolution) the assumptions and stereotypes about welfare parents and those judging them. The middle class feels put upon because their ''child rearing crisis'' sometimes include scheduling conflicts for after school activities and finding the 'right' dentist whereas a welfare family is faced with choices like asthma medication for one kid or food for all kids. I'm not, at all, saying that being middle or upper class means there are never any larger issues but at the end of the day, most welfare families would trade their presumed entitlement issues for those of parents in the 'burbs.
[/end rant]
PS No, seriously. People do not want to be poor. Honest.
Queen Miller,
regarding your citation of Thessalonians... I agree about idleness. If you can work, you should... and you should have to... but this brings us to a deeper problem, doesn't it? Most welfare recipients are young single women with chilfredn, yes? whne we force that woman to work, to earn her support, who takes care of the kids?
Should the gov't subsidise day care for the poor? I think so, do you?
Have you ever noticed that suburban moms that have the wherewithalk to stay at home with their children are considered by so many as being among the best of people, while single mothers who don't work outside of the home are considered lazy welfare queens?
Is that not wrong?
Isn't there something fundamentally wrong about that?
Stay at home moms are good, even though (in many cases) they contibute nothing to society... they aren't in the military, they have no individual income and therefore aren't contributing to the tax base, but they are good. Why is that?
Why is it the mother who thinks her children need her bad, if she is poor? Are the children of the better off more entitled than those of the poor? Apparently so.
This is, by no means, a condemnation of moms (or dads) who stay home eith the kids... more pwer to you, I say... but it is a matter of perspective.
Think about it, friends.
Ohhhhh boy.
I teach GED in a prison and I taught in an inner city school. It has nothing to do with lack of education. Don't blame being poor on the conservatives! Every one of those middle schoolers knew plenty about sex! They knew how to have it and what protection meant and how to use it.
In the prison it is pretty routine for teachers to try and talk these juveniles out of getting as many girls pregnant as they can. How many kids you have is viewed as a status symbol. We have even caught kids lying that they have kids. This is a cultural problem, you don't fix that in school. You fix that at home and in church.
These "poor" kids on welfare had nicer shoes than I did as a college educated working man. These kids had nicer cell phones than me. They throw their free lunches in the garbage at school and buy the snacks they want to eat!
$ isn't the real issue. Now, I give to charity and I pay my taxes. I have no problem helping those in need. I just happen to have spent the last three years of my life working with people who abuse the system. Call me jaded and cruel if you like. I love these kids, and whether or not I can teach them has nothing to do with $.
Richmond, VA spends twice as much per student than the surrounding counties, yet their schools are constantly under performing compared to those same counties and cities!
The answer isn't always more $. Sometimes it is spending it right. NEITHER party can claim that distinction!
That "girlishly whining" had me so peeved that I couldn't concentrate on the rest of what you said in your post, which was thought provoking and interesting. I guess that's because I'm a girl...
David,
Thanks for your service in the penal system. That is important work.
Let me be clear... I never said that poor people were poor because of conservatives or republicans.
What I said was that the guy with the SUV that I saw at the store yesterday is a greedy Republican asshole... and I would label any person that way who would begrudge one penny per tax dollar to try to help the poor.
I was cheering as I read this post last night!
I complain about taxes in a facetious sort of way. OBVIOUSLY I'd love my paycheck to be bigger. But I never mind paying taxes as long as I know they are going toward the greater good. If taxes mean I have better roads to drive on, better hospitals to go to, and better schools in which to enroll my children...
I read this post right after having a discussion with Code about an obviously not-so-wealthy guy at the 7-11 with a wad of lottery tickets in his hand. Our conversation ventured into how it's near impossible to get elected if you're going to raise taxes because people hate taxes so much. In comes legalized gambling to take its place.
Anyway, the point is I hate hearing people bitch about taxes. Especially when I think they aren't paying as much as I am and yet they get all the say in how to spend that money (like on this STUPID war).
Bill,
I think a government subsidized daycare is a great idea. As a mom who works and pays a MINT in daycare fees, I can completely understand how difficult that would be!
Wait....did you just agree with me on something? :)
You do raise an interesting question.... ( Don't tell anyone I said that....and I am NOT agreeing with you!) :) with regards to the stay at home moms versus the welfare moms.
The difference is that the stay at home moms are able to stay home because their spouse or family works to cover their bills without them having to work. I would have loved to stay home with my children, but we could not afford it....so I worked.
I don't think our views are that far apart. I am all for helping those in need.....but there comes a time where they need to learn to help themselves!
PS: I am conservative and I am all for sex ed.
Thanks Queen Mayhem!
You see? this is what I love when sensible people talk to, instead of at, each other.
Common ground.
We can agree on reasonable things... people just have to want to try.
Now, daycare subsidies... many conservatives would howl at that. Sex ed.? In schools? SHAME on you! (you know I am teasing you)
I've missed this comment train, clearly, but I'm glad to have read it. I'm throwing in my hearty 'ere, 'ere.
I would just like to comment on the Stay At Home Moms can afford to statement....
I'm a stay at home mom. Yes, I like being just that! But even if I wanted to work we couldn't afford for me to. Without a college degree I could maybe make a couple dollars above minimum wage. Childcare in my area would be way more expensive then what my paycheck would bring home.
Work opposite hours then my DH you say... Sure I could. But then what about the times he has to work 24-48 hour shifts or is stationed on a ship overseas or has week long trainings??
Please if you have a better answer for me then let me know! I'll gladly look into any option you may have for me!
Oh and for the "they contibute nothing to society"... How about the studies that say children who have a stay at home parent are more likely to be well rounded children. Physically, mentally and emotionally!
Don't get me wrong I'm not saying that families where both parents work are at a disadvantage... Because my opinion is that if the parents aren't happy in what they're doing then the children suffer. I'm a firm believer of what works for your family may not work for mine. But if it works and makes you happy then go for it and there's nothing wrong with that, long as it works for you, that's whats important!
Sorry I just reread the comments and realized that Queen of the Mayhem didn't say exactly that all stay home moms could afford to, just merely she couldn't. Me in my skimming reading took it the way I did. I apologize for my rant!
I think you missed my point, Melanie.
Please re-read all of what I wrote, take it in context, and try again. This time, without a chip on your shoulder. I wasn't attacking stay at home moms... I was making what I thin is a fair comparison of how stagy at home moms are viewed vs. the general view of a single mother who stays at home because she has no viable options. The married Stay at home is valued by society, but the other is seen as a welfare queen.
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