Conversation
Facebook conversations are...well, sub-optimal. The site is good at what it does, but it isn’t great for really discussing things at length, for several reasons. One of them is this: even assuming that you and the person you’re talking to manage to be concise and still eloquent, a few days later that conversation has been flooded by all the other conversations you’ve had since, and it’s more or less gone forever. So, keeping that in mind, I’m doing two things here. First, I’m creating a new tab so I can find these things again. Second, I print here something posted in a group I belong to on Facebook (a closed group called Faith or Fact, but they might let you in if you tell 'em OgreVI sent ya), along with my response. I’ll hide the name of the OP just for the sake of decency.
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K*** S******: Let me go ahead and start by saying/pissing some people off by saying I despise socialism in any shape, form, or fashion. But as much as I hate it, in some form, it will always be here. That said, here is my rant for the day.
I truly believe we should criminalize any and all luxury items used or possessed by anyone on ANY form of government assistance (EBT, WIC, food stamps, obamacare, welfare, assisted housing). And by luxury items I mean tobacco, alcohol, cable/satellite TV, and INCREASE ALL criminal sentences for those using or possessing a controlled substance who receive government assistance.
If it’s not necessary for you to live, get an education, or earn a living, then it is stealing from the rest of us who are paying taxes if you spend money on those items.
And before you think I am some elitist and have no heart or experience, this includes my own step-daughter, her baby daddy, and my two grandchildren. I have to tell my own children, who are 3 and 6, why they can’t live like their 18 and 2 month old cousins will be taught to live.
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Rick Winters: Here’s the way I look at it: I used to have a pretty good job, and I paid my taxes, and my taxes went (in some very small part) to paying for food stamps and housing benefits and the like. Then, when I came back home in 2010, the good job I thought I was moving into fell through, and I wound up doing a kind of crappy job because that was all that was available. I made very little money, so I was eligible for food stamps. As a result, I didn’t have to give up my internet access while I was trying to get back on my feet (and that matters these days). I kept smoking and drinking, too, though I did it less, metered carefully to what I could afford.
And eventually I did get back on my feet. Things still aren’t where I’d like them to be, but I can manage my bills and rent and groceries now. I’m no longer on any form of government assistance and now, once again, I’m paying into all the programs that kept me from starving or being homeless when I was down. I don’t complain about that, because there are tons of other people right now who are just like I was then, and maybe all they need is a simple goddamned break while they put everything back together. And I am very, VERY mindful of the fact that someday I might need that help again. How sure are you that you won’t?