Every once in awhile, I find myself on the receiving end of some right-wing propoganda email (whether from a relative, "friend," my boss, etc.) This one made me finally snap:
Lessons Taught at College and Beyond
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat and was for distribution of all wealth. She felt deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Republican which she expressed openly.
One day she was challenging her father on his beliefs and his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and more welfare programs. In the middle of her heart-felt diatribe based upon the lectures she had from the far left professors at her school, he stopped her and asked her point blank how she was doing in school. She answered that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain. That she had to study all the time, never had time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend and didn't really have many college friends because of spending all her time studying. That she was taking a more difficult curriculum.
Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Mary." She replied, "Mary is barely getting by", she continued, "all she has is barely a 2.0 GPA," adding, "and all she takes are easy classes and she never studies." But to explain further she continued emotionally, "But Mary is so very popular on campus. College for her is a blast, and she goes to all the parties all the time and very often doesn't even show up for classes because she is too hung over."
Her father then asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your 4.0 GPA and give it to your friend who only has 2.0." He continued, "That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."
The daughter, visibly shocked by the father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I worked really hard for mine, I did without, and Mary has done little or nothing, she played while I worked real hard!"
The father slowly smiled and said, "Welcome to the Republican Party."
After I read this email, I was really pissed off. I thought about 2 of my close friends, one in a medical crisis, and one a Gulf War vet, both of whom had horrible experiences and were personally affected by problems in the US. I thought about "President Bombs-a-Lot", and how even HE didn't fit the Republican ideal of this email. I thought about how wrong this email really was. So I finally snapped, responding with an angry diatribe to the sender:
~
Wow. This is a joke, right? You actually think the difference between Republicans (i.e. "the rich") and Democrats (i.e. "the poor") is that the poor are lazy and party all the time while the rich work? I think you may need a reality check.
A vast majority of poor people are not poor because they are "lazy." It has to do with socionomic backgrounds and life circumstances.They start out in this world with a very different slate, a very different set of options open to them, a different reality. Compare a child born to a single, poor woman in Minneapolis
with that of a child born to a wealthy family in Edina. Right off the bat, the poor child has many disadvantages. The poor mother can't be on welfare forever, so she has to go out and work a job for many hours to make enough money to house and feed them. The child doesn't have the benefit of having his mother around for support, so he or she doesn't do well with schoolwork, and may get into trouble too. The child in Edina? Mom doesn't have to work, so she stays home with the child all the time. The poor child may not have health care, so may be sick more often and not have preventative care. Rich child, no problems here. Perhaps the poor child's mom can't afford to send him or her to after school sports or functions, so the child doesn't have the benefit of these. The rich child can go to a private school with lots of individual attention, and afford to participate in all kinds of after school activites and summer programs. Even if poor child studies like heck in high school, poor child can't afford college. Rich child can go to any college he or she chooses, and can get the best education available. Even if poor child is determined to go to college, he or she can't get loans to pay for 100% of school costs, so he or she has to either work their way through (and not put 100% attention towards the education) or go to a cheaper school with not as good of an education. So right there, these two children have vastly different upbringings and options open to both of them.
Let's take, for example, the leader of the Republicans right now, George W. Bush. Born to the wealthy Bush family. GW was not a great student. He partied, drank and even did drugs. But where did he go to college? Yale. How did he get in? Because his dad went to Yale, and they let him in as a part of the "legacy program". He could never have gotten in otherwise, because he didn't have good grades in high school. George didn't do so hot at Yale either. Yes, more partying again. But when he got out, what happened? He started several
businesses with money from his dad's friends. These businesses failed, but there was always someone there to bail George out when times went bad. By all accounts, George should have been a "poor Democrat" with the choices he made, but as you can see that is not the case.
I also think you may be forgetting the founding of taxes in this country. In the early days of the settlers,
when they wanted to build a new road or something else that would benefit them, they would take up a collection, and people gave what they could. Obviously, the ones that had more money could give more. This was also the case in helping out with individual crises. If someone's house burned down, they would also take up a collection, and people gave what they could to help the person out. Again, the rich gave more. Why? Because they had more to help the unfortunate with. (Was the guy "lazy" that had his house burn down? No, just less fortunate.)
There are 2 types of people in the world: leaders and followers. Leaders are the people that lead others, have vision to do extraordinary things. Followers are the people that get the things done. They are yin and yang. They are both just as necessary as each other. Bill Gates couldn't have become the richest man in the US without his followers, the people doing the factory jobs, the "little people", because it would be just him in a room trying to do everything at once, which is impossible. So the poorer people at the bottom of the list, the janitors, the factory workers, are they "lazy", are they "partying"? Are they working at their jobs any less than Bill Gates? They helped build Bill Gates into the status he is, so why are they looked down on?
My friend Sarah has worked like mad her whole life to pay her way through college. She was raised by a drug abusing father who died and an overbearing mother who abandoned her (i.e kicked her out of the house) for a man who sexually abused her sister. Sarah had to live on her own in high school and then work her way through college. She faithfully worked 3 jobs, sometimes up to 60 hours a week, while going to part-time college. One day, a woman ran a red light and crashed into her. That set off a 2 year nightmare of suffering for my friend. Because she didn't have health insurance (couldn't afford it and the 3 jobs didn't give it to her) she had to rely on the car insurance to treat her injuries. But in Arizona, the state she lived in at the time, medical claims have to be paid in full by the victim until the injuries are resolved, and then you are paid back. Sarah went over $40,000 into debt to pay for all her medical bills, including surgery. She did this by dropping out of school, taking out loans, credit cards, working when she could, etc. And what was her "reward"? The woman that hit her only had $25,000 in coverage, so that is all she got for her medical bills. She needs all the help she can get. Is she "lazy"? Is she "partying"?
Have you actually ever spoken to a homeless person? I have. I talked to a woman in her mid-40's. She had gone to high school, and didn't have much money, so couldn't afford to go to college. She worked her whole career at a factory job, very dull but it paid the bills. One day she was in a car accident. The car accident left her with so much back pain that she couldn't sit or stand for long periods of time, which was what she did all day. She had insurance at the beginning to help treat her, but because she couldn't work much she lost her job, and therefore her health insurance. So what is she supposed to do? Can she find a job that lets you lay down all the time? Is she "lazy"? Is she "partying"?
I would think, or hope, that you are aware that a number of homeless in the country are Viet Nam veterans. A lot of them suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder from their service to our country. They gave their lives for everyone, and yet people complain about the cost and cut veterans health care and welfare that they benefit from. My friend Chris was in the first Gulf War. He was on the front lines, a sniper. He suffers from PTSD because of all the killing and the people attempting to kill him. He also suffers from Gulf War Syndrome, which he believes he got when the chemical weapons found in Iraq were thrown together and burned (yes, we destroyed the "weapons of mass distruction" in the first war, but that is another story) and he was close enough to be affected (their chemical sensors went off and their superiors told them to ignore them). Chris is no longer able to work. Bright lights, ringing phones, loud sounds, even airplanes, all of that is terrifying to him. So what does he do? He was "certified" by the government to have PTSD, so they are giving him $700 a month for the rest of his life because he can't work. But they still deny the Gulf War Syndrome -- hair falling out, weird skin patches, headaches, other weird illnesses. So he has to survive on $700 a month for the rest of his life. $700. That barely pays the rent. How is he supposed to eat and pay bills? Again, is he "lazy"? Is he "partying"?
Democrats are trying to "level the field" to give everyone equal opportunities in life, help those along that need it and help those out in unfortunate circumstances. Health care, food, housing, education, etc., these are not things everyone in this country has, and various circumstances make it harder for some people to get them than for other people. Maybe you should go out and talk to a poor or homeless person. Find out how they got there. You may actually have your eyes opened and realize that they are not all just "lazy" and "partying", but have a lot of different circumstances that you are unaware of.
~
Boy, that made me feel a lot better to get it off my chest!