While watching my son's football practice the other night I had another parent come up up to me and strike up a conversation. I had my laptop open with a local news site up on the screen. The story that was up was one on the impacts of austerity on the poor. The woman saw the story on my screen and started to give me her unfiltered opinion.
"I used to work for Head Start, it is corrupt."
"I worked my ass off as a single mother and I never got any help, all the help went to lazy people who sat on their asses all day."
"I worked for Kenosha schools; it was outrageous that the custodial staff made more money than some teachers."
"Unemployment is not a problem here in Madison, I know, I can't get anyone to work for me."
On and on she went, an authority on everything. I tried to stop her, tried to tell her that I was not interested in discussing this with her. I tried to parry her jabs, she just kept attacking the poor. I corrected her when she stated falsehoods, I stopped her when she attacked unions by asking her why she was attacking the custodian who was making a decent living instead of the school board that was underpaying its teachers. On and on she droned. It was such a relief when another parent showed up and grabbed her attention. Finally, I could watch my son in peace.
Her words would not leave me, though; I was deeply troubled by her line of reasoning. It's a line of reasoning that I have heard far too often in this country, from everyday Americans who post on Facebook that you should be drug tested to receive welfare benefits to our political leaders who say that unemployment checks are a disincentive to find work.
The cycle of poverty is deep and difficult to get out of; better minds than mine have been trying to figure out how to end poverty in America for longer than I have been alive. There are no easy answers or quick fixes to the problem of poverty in the United States.
While we cannot end poverty today, as much as we would like to, we can stop the cycle of lies and half-truths when we hear them. If someone claims that they have seen corruption in a social program, ask for documented evidence. Most of the so-called corruption does not exist—remember Reagan's welfare queen? Do some people abuse the social safety net? Yes, without a doubt if a human is involved, there will be corruption and abuse. Is it so much of a problem that we need to "reform" welfare/food stamps/Social Security/Medicare/etc? No, it really is not. Yes, individual cases will pop up in the news that are sensational but we need to understand that those are the exception and not the rule.
If someone claims that the poor are lazy because they don't work, ask them, where are poor people supposed to find a job in this day and age? If they say jobs are available, ask them, what the wage is? Then ask how they are supposed to get childcare/transportation/etc on that low wage (it is almost always a low wage). Ask how they can get a better job when they only have a high school, or less, education.
When people attack the school custodian for making a decent wage ask them why they are not demanding that same wage for themselves. When someone posts on Facebook that the poor should be drug tested prior to getting welfare, challenge the post, asking why the poor should be demeaned in such a manner. Ask for proof that the poor are heavier drug users than the rest of the population. Ask how much money would be saved by this program, how much money would it cost to implement. They will not have the answers; they're just repeating something because it sounded good.
Many people only berate the poor and unemployed only because they hear someone else do it, because it makes them feel like a bigger person, or because something sounds good. To me poor-bashing is no different than racism. Would we stand for someone attacking another because of their race? No we would not...and we should not stand for bashing someone because they live in poverty or are unemployed. Bigots come in all shapes and sizes. Bigots also come with a wide variety of hatreds. We do not need to tolerate any of it.