i just wanted to enjoy this rare sunny winter day.
Some mornings I get more wound up than others. The other day, I was feeling good, going to work, getting ready for the day. A rare sunny day, even. Enjoying my drive through beautiful Berkeley Springs. Then a car pulled out in front of me, a big old ‘Murican car. I felt annoyed that this car had cut me off and tampered with my good mood, and then I saw this bumper sticker:
"Work harder. Millions on welfare are depending on you." Huh?
OK, maybe so, but that’s not the main reason I would work harder. And, also, now isn’t that kind of mean?
Why would you say that kind of thing? Like, what if I’m some 10-year-old kid, driving with his welfare mama behind this bumper sticker bitch? Nice self-esteem building there, him reading that bumper sticker. Very educational. Is she (it was a woman) really having a fit because some kid not her color/religion/national origin might be eating Oreos bought with the food stamps that her taxes are paying? Or maybe some knocked up white trash is going to get an extra few dollars a month from that baby growing in there (oh, and yes, by the way – I’ll bet she’s “pro-life”). One stereotype after another ran through my head all of a sudden like a bad movie. What a rush.
But then I thought wait a minute you mean old bitch. I like my bumper sticker a lot better:
“Work harder. Millions of corporate welfare babies are depending on you.” Like Boeing, who gets $13 billion. Alcoa $5.6 billion. General Motors $3.5 billion. Yeah, real welfare babies there. Really needy. Fascinating read, that Subsidizing the Corporate One Percent report.
In fact, the government spent 50% more on corporate "welfare" than it did on food stamps and housing assistance in 2006. About $59 billion spent on traditional social welfare programs. $92 billion spent on corporate subsidies. Don't even get me started on the issue of how Walmart is subsidized by all the employees qualifying for public assistance. And I live in a red state, the second highestfor those States receiving the most federal funding per tax dollar paid, West Virginia. So, yeah.
Living on government benefits sucks. As one who has some experience there, I can tell you that most of the people I knew at least, wanted to work, or continue their education to get better jobs.
In 1976, I was 20, married and pregnant. Western Pennsylvania was in the middle a horrible recession. My husband (now ex), a Vietnam Veteran, had a job but had hurt himself at work and was laid off. His less-than-scrupulous employer didn't offer workers compensation or even unemployment: he must have been paying under the table. Finally Jay found a job as an aide at a mental health day care facility. It didn’t pay very well, probably minimum wage. We were eligible for Medicaid and food stamps, and a small monthly stipend. I was able to take my baby to regular medical checkups, get her immunizations on time, and have good food to eat. We were very poor, but had enough to scrape by until things changed (and they did).
As relieved as I was to have some help, I was embarrassed to be in this situation. I was from an upper-middle class home; my mother was a schoolteacher and my dad was a university professor. Growing up, I wanted for very little. Now here I was, cowering in front of the grocery cashier, feeling her judging me for buying hot chocolate mix. I told my mother how I felt and she said: "Honey, I've been paying taxes almost all my life. It's about time that I see those taxes helping something I believe in."
Through the next couple of years, things got financially a lot better for us. My ex-husband went to computer school under the VA bill and got a good job in DC as a computer programmer, and I got a great job on Capitol Hill. We eventually broke up, but it wasn't over money. When I think back to my past life, I feel little of the shame I had: now I feel grateful that the help had been there for us and we had used it to make ourselves better.
I am not naive. I know that there will always be people who are lazy and just want to collect their government benefits. That sounds boring as Hell to me, but whatever. And there are many people who will get a job and succeed. But what about those square pegs that will never ever fit into our neat, round holes of society? Are they bad people? Are they stupid or lazy? Are we better than they are? Most of the time, no, they are not, they're just different. Perhaps they suffer from agoraphobia, or they're mildly schizophrenic. Who am I, or anyone else, to judge? Should they die of hunger, or illness? The fact that you are born into a world that you can't manage shouldn't be a death sentence. Yes, there should be work programs, education and training available to get those able, working again. But for those still in the midst of getting that help, or who still can't earn a living, there should be at least a minimal support system.
So yeah, you mean little, sad little excuse for a woman who probably calls herself a Christian, so there. I will work harder, and I will hope that I'm able to help someone today just by doing something I'd be doing anyway.