Writing about what he refers to as “two of the most meanspirited actions left on the table by the least-productive Congress in modern history” — cutting food stamps and letting unemployment benefits expire — Egan says:
These actions have nothing to do with bringing federal spending into line, and everything to do with a view that poor people are morally inferior. Here’s a sample of this line of thought:
“The explosion of food stamps in this country is not just a fiscal issue for me,” said Representative Steve Southerland, Republican from Florida, chief crusader for cutting assistance to the poor. “This is a defining moral issue of our time.”
It would be a “disservice” to further extend unemployment assistance to those who’ve been out of work for some time, said Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky.It encourages them to sit at home and do nothing. “People who are perfectly capable of working are buying things like beer,” said Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, on those getting food assistance in his state.
did you pick up on the condescending reference to "THEM" you only use that term when differentiating yourself from others, that is the way they see the more than 47 % that figure leaves out those in the same situation that don't feel they are part of "US" but faithful republicans.
news update: yes you are part of the group you profess to hate, and they know it and treat you as such, haven't you noticed you are only important during election cycles in between, what have they really done for you?
And a very merry Christmas to you too, idiots!I’ll put it this way: if I were unable to find a job, getting my food stamps and unemployment benefits slashed, and then on top of that was subjected to smarmy lectures about my low moral character by these mouth-breathing maroons, not only would I be “buying” beer, I’d be regularly drinking myself into a coma.Simple-minded, mean-spirited ideas about good poor people vs. bad poor people have a history that goes back many centuries. As early as England’s Elizabethan-era Poor Laws, distinctions between the “deserving” poor — respectable, virtuous folk who were believed to be poor through no fault of their own — and the “undeserving” sort — lazy, dishonest, unmotivated — were encoded into public policy. That ideology persisted, was enforced with particular crueltyduring the Victorian period, and came back with a vengeance in the 1980s, whenpoor-bashing and victim-blaming became all the rage. It persists to this day.
for right wing voters do you not think they are talking about you?
Another finding of the study is that the distribution of benefits no longer aligns with the demography of poverty. African-Americans, who make up 22 percent of the poor, receive 14 percent of government benefits, close to their 12 percent population share.White non-Hispanics, who make up 42 percent of the poor, receive 69 percent of government benefits – again, much closer to their 64 percent population share.
http://www.yourblackworld.net/2013/03/black-news/white-people-make-up-42-of-the-poor-but-take-in-whopping-69-of-government-benefits/
so who's zoomin' who?
