Who would like to cast the first stone? Anyone? Anyone?
I just saw an ex-meth addict I know make some really stupid, rude and WRONG comments about something on Facebook, so I'm gonna rant now.
I'm just gonna go ahead and say something that will likely piss some people off, but I don't give a shit, because I can firmly stand by my words on this one. It seriously angers me when people talk shit about welfare programs and the people who use them. Food stamps, Medicaid, all of it. I have heard people make some very offensive and factually wrong assumptions about the race, citizenship status, intelligence level, and ethics of people they have never met, based solely on their participation in a government program. They have very little knowledge of how these programs work or who is actually utilizing them. And you know what? The people I hear complaining the loudest have no fucking right to say anything about how other people use government programs, or being lazy, and half of them I see as being jealous haters. The other half, they're just being ignorant. There, I said it.
Let's do a Q and A, shall we? I'll throw out a common complaint, and then crush the "logic" of the statement. Ooohh fun! The first one is my favorite.
Complaint: "My tax dollars go to lazy people who don't want to work or better themselves. They just want a free ride while I work my butt off and don't get anything."
My retort: First, I love it when people say, 'my tax dollars'. Shut up. If you are fortunate enough to make enough money at your job to where you can afford to pay taxes on your income, then guess what? Shut up. We live in America, a Democracy, where you pay taxes, and you get to vote people into office who decide all the gory details of where that tax money goes. If you don't like how it's spent, then fucking vote for once! Nobody votes! Only about 55% of eligible voters this year bothered to get off their fucking couch and vote, for fuck's sake, so SHUT UP!
Once you pay your taxes, it goes to services for EVERYONE. Not just YOU, EVERYONE has potholes. It's not YOUR country, it's OURS. You need a pothole on your cul-de-sac filled, somebody else needs a checkup for their 1 year old. So shut up. Are you really going to stand in front of a sick baby and say, "sorry kid, you don't get to go to the doctor, because I need a pothole filled on my street. I know you might die from pneumonia, but that pothole is super annoying." No, you're not, because you probably aren't as evil as all the stupid shit you say.
Some of these complainers are people who get tax RETURNS, and even if they are paying property taxes or something, that isn't where food stamp money comes from. It comes from your income taxes (which you get a return on) plus money set aside from the federal government. So when YOUR tax dollars come back to you at the end of the year...shut up. You're just (rightfully) pissed off because your shitty job gives shitty benefits, your health premiums are expensive, lettuce costs $2.99 a head and you don't qualify for any help from the government because your job pays you just a hair above the poverty line. All those things do suck, but at least you have a wage you can live on. Oh, but you went to community college, dammit, which you paid for by waiting tables and living at Mom's stinky cat lady house! You paid your dues and deserve better! You work sooo hard at your desk. Alllll day. You are SO tired from working your fat butt off at your desk allll day. Why should poor people who have even shittier jobs doing physical labor, or serving you meatloaf with extra extra ranch dressing at Denny's, or working overtime everyday so their wives can be home with the kids instead of in daycare, or who are underemployed and can only find part-time work, get any help with BASIC HUMAN NEEDS like food, shelter and medical care??? Oh wait, you don't WANT help from the government because of my next favorite complaint....
Complaint: "Our country wasn't founded on a bunch of freeloaders. I wasn't raised to take handouts. If those welfare people would just get off their ass and work hard, and try to better themselves, they could get off the welfare, but they don't want to! They're just lazy good-for-nothings. They're obviously too stupid to go to college."
My retort: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
One of the beautiful and frustrating things about our Constitution, is that it is subjective. When it was written, those dudes knew exactly what they were talking about. But now, so many other unforeseen issues have come up, we are left to make our own interpretations. Constitutional law is complicated shit. It deserves debate. But promoting the general welfare, I think, includes that we don't allow our own citizens to starve. Period. At all costs.
You know what? Some people aren't the college type. They are the mechanic, or welder, or cook, or bartender type. Not everyone needs to be, or should be, a doctor or lawyer. You need someone around who can fix your fucking BMW, because you're too stupid to do it yourself. Do those people not deserve a decent wage? Because you fuckers sure don't support raising the minimum wage...so we have people who hit hard times on occasion, like EVERYONE does, and because they've been living hand-to-mouth, they have no savings to recover, so they need a little help buying groceries here and there. How dare they have a death in the family and have to scrape up the change in the couch to come up with cremation money, and therefore not have money for food next month! Assholes!
Complaint: "Single mothers keep having babies just to stay on welfare because they don't want to work. They have a better phone, purse, car, etc...than I do, and I can't afford those things, why should they? They obviously don't need welfare."
My retort: Let me tell you from experience, that I did not want to be a single mother, I didn't plan to be when I got married and had my son, but shit happens. Awful shit happens, and sometimes you end up in a position like single motherhood, which sucks many, many balls. It is terribly hard on the kids and the Moms. Nobody wants to be a single Mother. The "fathers" of some (not all) of the kids in these households do not cooperate, and do not care about how their kid is being taken care of. They leave you to figure it out for yourself. My ex used to give me only $30 a month, for over a year because he said it's all he could afford, while he was going to shows and smoking the good pot and buying video games. The Child Support office took 2 years to get my case going and start garnishing his paychecks, and even then, he made so little, they couldn't get me enough to cover even a third of Gage's expenses. My phone and car were mine from better times, and the phone was prepaid. Did you know they make prepaid smartphones now too?
So I went on Medicaid and food stamps to help. My parents let Gage and I live in their house and I slept on the couch so Gage could have a bed. I also worked 2 waitressing jobs. I had no education because I was too busy working the last ten years, and waitressing was the best I could do. Eventually I did manage to go to school, but that was 5 years later. I worked every holiday, every weekend and long hours. I changed uniforms in parking lots between jobs. I served people who treated me like shit on their shoe, for a $2 tip and a nasty note about how they didn't get their iced tea refilled fast enough. All so I could get home after Gage was asleep, and the next time I'd get to see him would be the hour it took me to get him ready for school in the morning, until the next morning. So fuck you. I was not lazy. I made mistakes and my ex did too, and the shit hit the fan. Are you perfect? Have you NEVER been in an un-forseen shit storm? I don't want your sympathy, I just want you to recognize who you're talking to before you open your mouth.
Justification: "Well...social security is different. That's not a socialist program, it's American as apple pie! I paid into that. My family paid into that. I earned it. I'm entitled to it."
My retort: Actually, welfare and social security are essentially the same thing. The Social Security Act of 1935 began what we now know as the Social Security Administration, and the welfare programs we have today. It was all part of the same act. After the depression, people needed help. We wanted our own people to have help when they needed it most, like when you're old, disabled, unemployed or have children to care for. And at the time it was created, people complained about it being socialist and un-American! After all the misery of the great depression, a lot of people still didn't want government programs to help it's OWN CITIZENS. WTF? And now, you fuckers are complaining about food stamps for families, but don't anyone dare take away your social security check. SHUT. UP. Your SOCIALIST, social security program is pretty useful, isn't it? ISN'T IT?? What's more American than taking care of our own when they're in need? Nothing. Nothing is more American, so SHUT UP.
I have to also point out that being on welfare isn't fun. It isn't the best medical care, and you don't get to go to any doctor you want. There are lots of restrictions. Gage couldn't get glasses when he needed them right away because Medicaid didn't pay for them at the time, so until I could save enough money for them, he had to sit in the front row at school and deal with headaches from eye strain.
As for people who say food stamp recipients are able to buy filet mignon and lobster with their EBT cards, guess what? They are not doing that. When you get $300 a month in food stamps for 2 people, you're buying generic cereal and ground beef. So SHUT UP.
Here's a few statistics to show you that people do not stay on welfare forever or even as much as you think. Nobody who utilizes these programs likes it. They get off it as soon as they can.
So there. They're not all black people, or Hispanic people, so stop saying that and why does it matter anyway, they're citizens, so stop being a biggot. The majority of recipients do not stay on the program any longer than they have to, either.
I don't want a debate. I won't even participate in one. I just had to get that off my chest. If you are a drug addict, you don't get to throw stones at poor people. Fucking idiot.
I'm just gonna go ahead and say something that will likely piss some people off, but I don't give a shit, because I can firmly stand by my words on this one. It seriously angers me when people talk shit about welfare programs and the people who use them. Food stamps, Medicaid, all of it. I have heard people make some very offensive and factually wrong assumptions about the race, citizenship status, intelligence level, and ethics of people they have never met, based solely on their participation in a government program. They have very little knowledge of how these programs work or who is actually utilizing them. And you know what? The people I hear complaining the loudest have no fucking right to say anything about how other people use government programs, or being lazy, and half of them I see as being jealous haters. The other half, they're just being ignorant. There, I said it.
Let's do a Q and A, shall we? I'll throw out a common complaint, and then crush the "logic" of the statement. Ooohh fun! The first one is my favorite.
Complaint: "My tax dollars go to lazy people who don't want to work or better themselves. They just want a free ride while I work my butt off and don't get anything."
My retort: First, I love it when people say, 'my tax dollars'. Shut up. If you are fortunate enough to make enough money at your job to where you can afford to pay taxes on your income, then guess what? Shut up. We live in America, a Democracy, where you pay taxes, and you get to vote people into office who decide all the gory details of where that tax money goes. If you don't like how it's spent, then fucking vote for once! Nobody votes! Only about 55% of eligible voters this year bothered to get off their fucking couch and vote, for fuck's sake, so SHUT UP!
Once you pay your taxes, it goes to services for EVERYONE. Not just YOU, EVERYONE has potholes. It's not YOUR country, it's OURS. You need a pothole on your cul-de-sac filled, somebody else needs a checkup for their 1 year old. So shut up. Are you really going to stand in front of a sick baby and say, "sorry kid, you don't get to go to the doctor, because I need a pothole filled on my street. I know you might die from pneumonia, but that pothole is super annoying." No, you're not, because you probably aren't as evil as all the stupid shit you say.
Some of these complainers are people who get tax RETURNS, and even if they are paying property taxes or something, that isn't where food stamp money comes from. It comes from your income taxes (which you get a return on) plus money set aside from the federal government. So when YOUR tax dollars come back to you at the end of the year...shut up. You're just (rightfully) pissed off because your shitty job gives shitty benefits, your health premiums are expensive, lettuce costs $2.99 a head and you don't qualify for any help from the government because your job pays you just a hair above the poverty line. All those things do suck, but at least you have a wage you can live on. Oh, but you went to community college, dammit, which you paid for by waiting tables and living at Mom's stinky cat lady house! You paid your dues and deserve better! You work sooo hard at your desk. Alllll day. You are SO tired from working your fat butt off at your desk allll day. Why should poor people who have even shittier jobs doing physical labor, or serving you meatloaf with extra extra ranch dressing at Denny's, or working overtime everyday so their wives can be home with the kids instead of in daycare, or who are underemployed and can only find part-time work, get any help with BASIC HUMAN NEEDS like food, shelter and medical care??? Oh wait, you don't WANT help from the government because of my next favorite complaint....
Complaint: "Our country wasn't founded on a bunch of freeloaders. I wasn't raised to take handouts. If those welfare people would just get off their ass and work hard, and try to better themselves, they could get off the welfare, but they don't want to! They're just lazy good-for-nothings. They're obviously too stupid to go to college."
My retort: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
One of the beautiful and frustrating things about our Constitution, is that it is subjective. When it was written, those dudes knew exactly what they were talking about. But now, so many other unforeseen issues have come up, we are left to make our own interpretations. Constitutional law is complicated shit. It deserves debate. But promoting the general welfare, I think, includes that we don't allow our own citizens to starve. Period. At all costs.
You know what? Some people aren't the college type. They are the mechanic, or welder, or cook, or bartender type. Not everyone needs to be, or should be, a doctor or lawyer. You need someone around who can fix your fucking BMW, because you're too stupid to do it yourself. Do those people not deserve a decent wage? Because you fuckers sure don't support raising the minimum wage...so we have people who hit hard times on occasion, like EVERYONE does, and because they've been living hand-to-mouth, they have no savings to recover, so they need a little help buying groceries here and there. How dare they have a death in the family and have to scrape up the change in the couch to come up with cremation money, and therefore not have money for food next month! Assholes!
Complaint: "Single mothers keep having babies just to stay on welfare because they don't want to work. They have a better phone, purse, car, etc...than I do, and I can't afford those things, why should they? They obviously don't need welfare."
My retort: Let me tell you from experience, that I did not want to be a single mother, I didn't plan to be when I got married and had my son, but shit happens. Awful shit happens, and sometimes you end up in a position like single motherhood, which sucks many, many balls. It is terribly hard on the kids and the Moms. Nobody wants to be a single Mother. The "fathers" of some (not all) of the kids in these households do not cooperate, and do not care about how their kid is being taken care of. They leave you to figure it out for yourself. My ex used to give me only $30 a month, for over a year because he said it's all he could afford, while he was going to shows and smoking the good pot and buying video games. The Child Support office took 2 years to get my case going and start garnishing his paychecks, and even then, he made so little, they couldn't get me enough to cover even a third of Gage's expenses. My phone and car were mine from better times, and the phone was prepaid. Did you know they make prepaid smartphones now too?
So I went on Medicaid and food stamps to help. My parents let Gage and I live in their house and I slept on the couch so Gage could have a bed. I also worked 2 waitressing jobs. I had no education because I was too busy working the last ten years, and waitressing was the best I could do. Eventually I did manage to go to school, but that was 5 years later. I worked every holiday, every weekend and long hours. I changed uniforms in parking lots between jobs. I served people who treated me like shit on their shoe, for a $2 tip and a nasty note about how they didn't get their iced tea refilled fast enough. All so I could get home after Gage was asleep, and the next time I'd get to see him would be the hour it took me to get him ready for school in the morning, until the next morning. So fuck you. I was not lazy. I made mistakes and my ex did too, and the shit hit the fan. Are you perfect? Have you NEVER been in an un-forseen shit storm? I don't want your sympathy, I just want you to recognize who you're talking to before you open your mouth.
Justification: "Well...social security is different. That's not a socialist program, it's American as apple pie! I paid into that. My family paid into that. I earned it. I'm entitled to it."
My retort: Actually, welfare and social security are essentially the same thing. The Social Security Act of 1935 began what we now know as the Social Security Administration, and the welfare programs we have today. It was all part of the same act. After the depression, people needed help. We wanted our own people to have help when they needed it most, like when you're old, disabled, unemployed or have children to care for. And at the time it was created, people complained about it being socialist and un-American! After all the misery of the great depression, a lot of people still didn't want government programs to help it's OWN CITIZENS. WTF? And now, you fuckers are complaining about food stamps for families, but don't anyone dare take away your social security check. SHUT. UP. Your SOCIALIST, social security program is pretty useful, isn't it? ISN'T IT?? What's more American than taking care of our own when they're in need? Nothing. Nothing is more American, so SHUT UP.
I have to also point out that being on welfare isn't fun. It isn't the best medical care, and you don't get to go to any doctor you want. There are lots of restrictions. Gage couldn't get glasses when he needed them right away because Medicaid didn't pay for them at the time, so until I could save enough money for them, he had to sit in the front row at school and deal with headaches from eye strain.
As for people who say food stamp recipients are able to buy filet mignon and lobster with their EBT cards, guess what? They are not doing that. When you get $300 a month in food stamps for 2 people, you're buying generic cereal and ground beef. So SHUT UP.
Here's a few statistics to show you that people do not stay on welfare forever or even as much as you think. Nobody who utilizes these programs likes it. They get off it as soon as they can.
Statistics
Those who are eligible for certain welfare programs usually do not stay on them long-term; in fact fewer than 20 percent of those who receive assistance from these programs stay on them for a period of time longer than seven months. Around 20 more percent of people who get welfare end up staying on it for anywhere from one to two years total. About 27 percent of people stay on welfare for a period of up to five years. Another twenty percent of people stay on welfare programs for a period of time which exceeds five years.| Welfare Demographics | |
| Percent of recipients who are white | 38.8 % |
| Percent of recipients who are black | 39.8 % |
| Percent of recipients who are Hispanic | 15.7 % |
| Percent of recipients who are Asian | 2.4 % |
| Percent of recipients who are Other | 3.3 % |
So there. They're not all black people, or Hispanic people, so stop saying that and why does it matter anyway, they're citizens, so stop being a biggot. The majority of recipients do not stay on the program any longer than they have to, either.
I don't want a debate. I won't even participate in one. I just had to get that off my chest. If you are a drug addict, you don't get to throw stones at poor people. Fucking idiot.
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