What is taking my breath away are some of the comments I see on news forums which pour hate on the most vulnerable of our citizens, as well as our Governor's now stated willingness to shut down the state if he doesn't get what he wants when he wants it.
I've noticed that most of the angry voters whom I know personally who are calling for the blood of people on welfare calm down after I've had a chance to speak to them, explain that there are a lot of budget cuts yet to explore before implementing ones which threaten people's lives, remind them that some of them are professed Christians with a duty to care for the poor, the sick, and even those in prison, and also mention that solving such a huge deficit with cuts alone isn't the safest thing to do with our state economy also in a tailspin.
But I'm only one person, and one stuck in bed too much of the time, at that.
Also, since I suffer from depression, sometimes the personal attacks get to be too much and I have to take a break. I'm neither a popular diary writer nor a popular web site owner, and it takes a lot of bravery to keep putting myself out there. I do it anyway, but sometimes not as quickly or as assertively as would be most effective.
I'm actually not one of the people affected by this round of budget cuts. The governor already zapped me, last fall. My own problem is that with the zap and with the annual COLAs kicking me off of the Aged, Blind, and Disabled Program, I'm about to enter another copay division of Medicare Part D, and already can't afford my copays for office visits and medical procedures.
My Mom has been helping me, but she is 75, and really should be using her Social Security for herself. And when she can't do it any more, I don't have anyone who has promised to help me except for the sweetheart I live with, who is legally blind, was laid off in November, and has his own medical issues. What I need is real national health reform, not a bunch of people squabbling over whether or not to include a "private option" for health insurance that will probably be denied to people who are Medicare-eligible anyway. Why not make Medigap policies available to those under 65? Why should I be stuck with Medicare Part D's insane "doughnut hole" and with no help at all for all of my copays? Why not let me work and keep my health care? Why not single payer, which would cover us all much more cheaply than what we pay now for a huge mess?
Of course, it is supposed to be Medicaid (Medi-Cal) which helps with my copays, but my state seems to have no problem with gutting social programs, some even to beyond the point where they lose the federal monies which often pay for most of the program. That's the power of scapegoating, and right now the scapegoats du jour are welfare scum like yours truly and illegal aliens. California is seen as "liberal", but remember which presidents we produced.
Anyway, back to the state of my state. I put up a website and a petition. Neither are perfect and I'm sure both will be torn apart. But I feel best having at least tried to stop the coming slaughter of the innocents. I am certain there are more experienced and better connected people who will do better. I just hope they act soon. There seems to be some sort of runaway train rushing downhill at our state Capitol, helping to incite those people who haven't thought anything through, like how an all-cuts approach would affect our state economy, how mass layoffs would further dry up demand for goods and services, how slashing education would dry up the pool of talent which attracts business, how closing the parks would lose the state more revenue than it would gain, and how cuts to health care might just end up affecting themselves or their loved ones in this Great Recession where none of us can be sure of where we will be financially six months from now.