We all heard him say it:
“People should work longer hours,”
Actually
what he said was:
“My aspiration for the country and I believe we can achieve it, is 4 percent growth as far as the eye can see. Which means we have to be a lot more productive, workforce participation has to rise from its all-time modern lows. It means that people need to work longer hours” and, through their productivity, gain more income for their families. That's the only way we're going to get out of this rut that we're in.”
The takeaway from a comment like this is
"we’re poor because we don’t work hard enough". Of course he later went on to chastise the media for
“taking it out of context” when others point out what a horrible thing he had just said.
OF COURSE he didn’t mean what he said. How could we not see that?
Well that was a couple of weeks ago. Now he’s going after Medicare. At a Koch Brothers sponsored event he said:
"We need to make sure we fulfill the commitment to people that have already received the benefits," he said, "that are receiving the benefits. But we need to figure out a way to phase out this program for others and move to a new system that allows them to have something, because they're not going to have anything."
Now that all SOUNDS benign, doesn’t it? Of course not. We know better.
What Jeb doesn’t understand about poverty is that it’s institutional. The poor aren’t lazy, they’re exhausted. If Jeb needs a few million for his campaign, he picks up the phone and calls his rich friends. If the tires are bald on single-mom’s car, she’s got to pick up another job to make some extra cash to buy a new tire—or take the risk as long as she can. If Jeb needs anything, he’s got sycophants all around him ready to do his bidding. If the strapped-for-cash father needs anything, he just has to learn to do without. Jeb can outsource most of his chores. Families have to do their own: pick up the kids, meet with teachers, doctors, dentists, grocery shopping, all while working two jobs.
Jeb’s comments have nothing to do with employment or Medicare. It's about men like Jeb Bush and his Koch bosses who see every dollar that isn’t going to them as some kind of failure on their part. Their greed is overwhelming and it’s terrifying watching them buy up the Republican Party.
Jeb is a man who never knew want. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth. So, alas, he doesn’t understand the suffering of the poor—nor does he want to. It’s hard to know if his ignorance is deliberate, but if he wanted to understand, he could. All he would have to do is get to know America’s working poor. There are lots of them out there.
He and his brother wear the mantle Christian, which presumably means that they also believe in Jesus. But would Jesus believe in them? What would Jesus think—not just of Jeb’s antics, but of the man himself? I’m guessing he wouldn’t think much. How would I know, right? Well, let’s retell one of Jesus’ parables and use Jeb as the nameless main character which Jesus described. Of course we could use any one of the Republican candidates, or even Senators like Paul Ryan… but we’ll stick with this particular candidate.
It’s the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Only here we’ll call it The Rich Former Florida Governor and Lazarus. The title’s a little longer, but way more fun to say.
“There was a rich (Former Florida Governor) who was dressed in expensive clothes and lived in luxury every day. At the Governor's Mansion was a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the Governor’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
“The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich (Former Florida Governor) also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
“But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
“The rich (Former Florida Governor) answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
“Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’”
He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
So for the exegesis: there are three characters described in this story. The Rich
(Former Florida Governor), Lazarus
(the 99-percent), and Abraham.
We might define them as: The Job Creator (the one-percent); the Taker (Mitt Romney’s 47-percent); and Abraham (let’s call them the Nuns on the Bus or Dr. Martin Luther King)
Visible to the Former Florida Governor, just outside his door in fact, was the 99-percent: the poor, unemployed, homeless, uninsured, hungry, and suffering. The Former Florida Governor passed them every day. He had to step over them to get to his Governor’s Mansion. We know from the Governor’s own comments that he is completely indifferent to their plight—if he thinks anything about them at all.
After the introduction, Jesus makes a significant observation—something that the Former Florida Governor should have anticipated, even prepared for: the end of his story. Death comes to us all: rich and poor, good and bad, the Job Creators and Takers alike—and IN death we are all equalized. In Jesus’ tradition (as in the Former Florida Governor’s), after death there was a time of punishment and reward based on the ACTUAL worth of the human, not their monetary worth.
Here’s where Jesus’ story takes on the Great Paradox. In life, the Former Florida Governor had value. He was the brother and son of a former president. He had lots of money. The Koch Brothers loved him. He was one of the potty-trained Republicans. Yet when death measured his actual worth, it placed him in the valley of the valueless, while Lazarus had a place on the lap of Abraham—the lap of luxury if you will. It’s also interesting that Jesus says, quite bluntly:
The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was in torment…
It’s as if Jesus simply assumed that would be his next step. He didn’t even bother to tell us
“the Former Florida Governor died and went to Hades…” Nope. He was buried, and in Hades, where he was in torment.
In torment, the Former Florida Governor begged Abraham to send the Taker to him to provide relief. Abraham informed the Former Florida Governor that he had his whole lifetime to prepare, and he chose, instead, his wealth.
Basically Abraham chastised him:
“you received your good things while you were alive, while giving nothing to the Taker.”
Reading this as a script, we can look into even deeper levels of this story. We can observe that even in death, even in torment, the Former Florida Governor expected that the Taker should be at his disposal. He didn’t even bother to acknowledge Lazarus or ask him if he would help. Instead, he called upon the influence he
thought he had to coerce Abraham to force Lazarus to do his bidding.
It didn’t work though. So the Former Florida Governor tries another tactic. He “begged,” according to Jesus, Abraham to send Lazarus to his family, FINALLY showing some actual humility… though still not bothering to acknowledge Lazarus or his feelings about the request.
More irony: just as the Taker had begged every day at the Former Florida Governor’s gate to no avail, the Former Florida Governor would now beg Abraham, only to get the same results from Abraham that the Takers got from him.
Abraham’s admonishment is rather interesting. He reminded the Former Florida Governor that his brothers already HAD been warned: over and over again. In fact, they even claimed to know (and presumably to believe) exactly what the Former Florida Governor wanted Lazarus to tell them. They had already been told this by men of great integrity, men that they all CLAIMED they knew to be right. So the problem, according to Abraham (and Jesus) was that they simply didn’t take what these men said seriously. It was like evoking Martin Luther King, even though you really don't give much thought to what he actually meant.
These are disturbing ideas that get glossed over in the retelling of this story.
But WAIT: there’s more! What was the Former Florida Governor’s actual crime? Jesus doesn’t say. Or does he? He was rich—and ignored the plight of the poor. A point brought home by the way Jesus chose to define him: “A Rich Man.” Notice that he gave Lazarus a name, but not the Former Florida Governor. In life the Former Florida Governor was respected and revered. The media followed him wherever he went. His family name gave him access to anything he wanted.
Yet in this parable, Jesus stripped him of his name, and instead, called him a Rich Man. It’s probably safe to assume that he spoke the name somewhat derisively. In life, the Former Florida Governor had a name… in death, Jesus refused to use it. In life, the Former Florida Governor had value and respect. In death, HE was the beggar. In life, the Former Florida Governor was seen as pious, religious, and a good Conservative. In death, not even Abraham (let alone God) considered him worthy.
Isn’t it ironic that the greatest threat the poor face is from those who wear the name of the greatest champion of the poor? Jesus thought that too. But in Jesus' mind, there would be justice eventually.