Hypocricans in Fine Form

by Ruth A. Sheets

It is not possible to overestimate the fear and loathing projected by the Hypocricans in Congress these days.  This week they have stepped up their efforts to eliminate women’s right to choose.  They also continued their assault on the poorest among us.  Their terror of immigrants, particularly those from Mexico and points south raised its head again.

The Hypocricans in the House of Representatives voted to outlaw abortions at 20 weeks gestation, criminalizing women who choose to terminate pregnancy beyond that point.  Some didn’t even want to make exceptions for rape, incest or health of the mother.  Do these mostly white men really care that much for the offspring of those pregnancies?  Not really.  If they did, these same Hypocricans would not have voted to lower funding for the food stamp program.  One would think they would be increasing all kinds of support to families in poverty.  They would at least double the money for family planning and contraception to keep such unwanted pregnancies at a minimum. 

So what is going on here?  You know!  The war on women progresses.

Hypocricans say they are fiscal conservatives.  That is an interesting claim.  Let’s check it out.

Just so they don’t have to pay for food stamps and other programs to support folks in poverty, they will continue direct payments to farmers, even if they don’t grow anything.  How do these things connect?  Well, the Farm Bill was up for a vote this week.  The Democrats, against their better judgment, compromised to lower payments for food stamps a little.  It wasn’t enough for the Hypocricans, who rejected the whole bill.  This means that the current farm subsidies will remain in place, money not spent wisely.  Hypocricans couldn’t stick it to those lazy poor people, so the whole bill goes down.

Next these “fiscal conservatives” pinned an amendment to the immigration bill demanding a level  of border security impossible to achieve.  This will cost billions of dollars.  Even though few immigrants are coming from Mexico these days, the proposal is to double the number of border guards and build more fences.  Their fear of the Latinos is evident since there is no proposal for fences and walls on our border with Canada.   Hypocricans then tie the “path to citizenship” for undocumented immigrants to the insane border requirements.  The Hypocricans actually believe in their heart of hearts that such blatant racism will win them Latino votes.  Really!

The scary part for me is that a lot of Americans support the Hypocricans.  Fear and loathing are such easy emotions and can be mined at little cost.  It takes little effort to convince people that someone is out to get what they have.  With facility, people can be persuaded that danger is around every corner, that evil lurks behind every door.   Who is presenting these threats:  women who want control over their own bodies, people sneaking over the border, indolent poor who prey on the rich.  And, of course, we all must be protected from them.

Perhaps, instead of the witch hunts they are instituting, Hypocricans should look in the mirror to find the evil they seek.

Turn the Poor over to the Churches and Charities?

Line at a food bank

by Ruth A. Sheets

Back in the 1930’s during the Great Depression, my grandparents depended on several churches for their survival.  I say several because the amount any one church could give to a family was so small that my out-of-work grandfather could not feed his family on it.

With the advent of the food stamps and general welfare programs of the Federal and State Governments, poor people no longer had to go from church to church to seek help through their hard times.  They did not always have to beg at the church door.  They no longer had to sit through worship services that did not necessarily meet their needs in order to receive the pittance churches could afford to hand out.  Some of the stigma was removed from being poor.

Unfortunately, the removal of the stigma rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.  Being poor should be at least a little humiliating so people won’t want to remain in that condition.  The “haves” liked being able to reach down and give a little in order to receive the gratitude of the have-nots. 

It doesn’t matter that in order to receive welfare of any kind, individuals must be nearly in abject poverty.  Married couples have a hard time getting such help because it is assumed that if a man is in the household, he is working and earning enough to support his family or he’s a moocher. 

Many Republicans and Libertarians have chosen ending or severely (even more severely) limiting welfare and food stamps as one of their causes, saying that our nation can’t afford it anymore.  This is at a time when large companies are making record profits but bearly hiring.  This is at a time when many, if not most of the jobs companies are creating are mimimum wage jobs, which as anyone who has ever earned minimum wage knows, is not enough to live on.

I recently heard a report on NPR which included an interview with a truck driver for a food bank.  He told the interviewer and all of America that he thinks helping the poor is the job of the churches and charities and not the Government. 

I know that food banks, thrift stores, and other charitable organizations do a great good in our society.  They can sometimes take the edge off the pain of poverty.  What they cannot do is offer dignity to those who need their services.  They cannot provide a shared experience of conducting one’s life as one chooses:  going to the supermarket, buying new clothing for the kids, using things that are not other people’s discards.  They cannot provide these services on the scale needed in America at this time.

It is ironic that the folks who have the most, resent the commonwealth for trying to level the field for those who have not been as lucky.  I wonder how many of the lucky do their best to avoid paying taxes, but also give as little as they can to the charities that serve the poorest among us.  If they do give anything, it has to make a big splash in the media, “wonderful me giving to those less fortunate than I.”   

It is fascinating that those who earn the least pay the largest percentage of their income for charities, but it is the wealthiest who are celebrated for their largess.

Even if there are a few moochers  around, I’d rather take the chance to provide my fellow citizens with welfare, if needed, and food stamps, if needed, than know they have to go from church to charity to receive enough to survive, as my mother’s family did 75 years ago.