The Opinionated Bitch – On Poverty
I got into another heated discussion this week on the subject of poverty with someone who feels public assistance is misused and one of her friends chimed in that it “perpetuates the plantation mentality” with which she roundly agreed. I bit my tongue and didn’t comment on the overt racism of this statement. This same individual proudly proclaims her Christianity in the same breath. I don’t question a person’s faith or their commitment to Jesus. That’s all fine and well. When the proclamation of faith comes without compassion for the least among us, I feel moral outrage.
“With Jesus all things are possible”, eh? What if the odds are stacked against these people? I suggest they are. Not everyone on public assistance has professionally manicured nails, a fancy cell phone and a flat screen t.v., as she complained. I don’t know what poor neighborhoods she’s hanging out in while ministering to others, but the face of poverty where I come from looks a whole lot different.
I understand that as long as there are social programs, there will always be people who bilk the system. Social Conservatives claim that alone is reason enough to severely restrict access to, or better yet, completely eliminate those programs as a means of reducing the size of government. Those same people are not complaining about the huge wealth disparity in our country that is ever-widening. The top 15% of the people in this country possess nearly 90 percent of all material wealth. That leaves the bottom 85% to scrap over the remaining 10%. The most wealthy 400 Americans, and I’m talking about 400 individuals, have a greater net worth than the bottom 150 million Americans.* I’m sorry, but that’s just obscene. Let’s put it in perspective with some actual numbers:
21% of all children in America live below the poverty level. When it comes to childhood hunger, the outlook is even more grim – 25%. 1 in 4 children in the richest nation in the world will go to bed hungry tonight, through absolutely no fault of their own – and that’s with the current level of public assistance.. In my state alone, another 1 million children are food insecure, meaning they may have eaten today, but don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Before Social Security came along, 35% of senior citizens lived in poverty. With the advent of the most successful social program in the history of our nation, that number tumbled below 10%. Within the last 10 years, that number has spiked to 16%. If we did absolutely nothing to change Social Security, the program could remain funded at 100% for the next twenty seven years. After that, it would be funded at 80 percent for another 50 years. So why the rush to kill or cripple a successful program? Social Conservatives claim it will help solve the debt crisis. They fail to tell you that Social Security has not added a thin dime to the national debt – but if we privatize the program, Wall Street can play games with those billions of dollars for their personal enrichment. 17% of Americans have no health insurance and 62% of all bankruptcies were attributed to medical expenses. As of today, health insurance executives bypassed Wall Street executives as the most highly compensated CEO’s in our country. As of 2007, health care spending accounted for more than 16% of this nation’s GDP. In 1960, the year I was born, that figure was 5.2%.
So what is the Social Conservative’s answer to the ginned up debt crisis in this country? Reward the people who rigged the system with lower taxes and Corporations who paid no taxes at all with more loopholes that would result in us paying them to ship American jobs overseas… while killing funding for public education, gutting regulatory agencies that would keep big business from polluting our air and our water and destroying Social Security and Medicare. Uncertainty in ‘the market’ is not the reason for high unemployment in the United States. It’s greed. Plain and simple. It’s unbridled greed. The result: poverty, homelessness and hunger. And just this week, Rick Santorum (Google ‘Santorum’ and you’ll know exactly what I think of him) stated that food stamps, unemployment and heating assistance should end immediately. Regardless of his wild, homophobic rants, this guy takes every opportunity to make loud pronouncements about his Christian faith. I can’t square watching people die in December from the cold and hunger with anything the gospels claim Jesus said or intended.
I spent a wonderful hour on BROADSIDED this morning speaking with Lisa Sharon Harper from Soujourners, a Christian Organization that puts their mouth where their faith is and fights for social justice in this country. Lisa and I couldn’t be two more different people. She’s a Christian and I’m an Atheist. Lisa’s heritage includes Black, White, Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Jewish. I couldn’t be more white. She comes from the big city, I’m from the smallest of the small towns. I can’t remember having a more ‘connected’ conversation with such a devout Christian in a very long time. It was like speaking to an old friend. (Click on the word “BROADSIDED” in blue above for a direct link to the Podcast). What did I like most about her? She spoke of faith and scripture not in the abstract, but in the here and now. She speaks of a living God and lives her life with the love and compassion I read about in the Bible. She humanizes being a Christian in ways I rarely hear today. Gandhi once said, “I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ.” Lisa, and the people with whom she is affiliated are refreshing exceptions to that observation. Gandhi would have loved her.
To the ‘Christians’ who wish to vilify the poor in this country, I have but one thing to say… “Shut the hell up. Jesus called. He wants His religion back.”
Carol Baker is a political writer, satirist, and co-host with Vicki Childs of our Here Women Talk weekly internet talk radio show called BROADSIDED. You can hear their show every Thursday at 11 am Eastern/10 Central/8 Pacific.
I’m sorry. Did someone just threaten to call Steve Harvey on you?
@Monica – I said precisely what I meant. If you’re determined to read racism into my every utterance, every nuance, then there’s nothing at all I can say that will appease you. If you feel you have the personal power to “discredit” my position, then I have no desire to stop you. And why talk about forgiveness if I’m not a Christian? Because kindness, morality, honesty, love, and yes, forgiveness is NOT the sole purview of Christians. I find it so sad that you can’t understand that some things are a human experience and have nothing to do with believing in God or not. Dehumanizing me won’t change that. I do hope you’ll have the good taste to share the full content of my blog and ALL of the comments made here today so that the people reading will have an honest chance to see both sides.
a·the·ist: a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.
The above is the definition of an atheist from Websters – so are you an atheist or are you not? Because if you are your comments about faith, Christianty and the like are null and void. It doesnt matter how long you studied religion or the bible, being a self defined atheist means that you dont believe in the existence of GOD, so why would you comment on something you dont believe in. You like to put words in peoples mouth that they didnt even say – You know nothing about my morals, who I am involved with, how I treat people and who my friends are. So to say that I am taking the moral high ground … compared to what? We should all be taking the moral high ground otherwise we will end up in Sodem and Gomorrah (whoops – I guess I am using scripture and taking the moral high ground). So what next, are you going to block me from putting messages on your blog? I will continue to help people, not enable them – providing a hand up and not a hand out, I will feed meat and you can continue to give them a baby bottle. Until you have walked in my shoes dont accuse me of not caring for the poor. I just have a different perspective than you and it isnt political. I never even claimed or stated my political beliefs, you did that for me. Also to say the Christians are the only ones who hurt people… hurt people, hurt people. Wouldnt you agree?
Lisa, what’s clear to me is that you know nothing about Atheism. I find it fascinating that I didn’t say any of those things about your work or your friends or your intentions, yet you accuse me of doing just that. I NEVER accused you of not caring for the poor. I’ve never attacked your show or your work – never done anything but praise you for it. Told others about your good work too. I’ve never gotten on the chat line of your show to question your knowledge or your intentions, as you have done to me more than once. I never said only Christians hurt people. Yes, I agree – hurt people hurt people and I’m sorry for your obvious pain – but I’m not the source of it. I won’t block your comments or those of your friends. I learned a long time ago that when you turn off someone else’s microphone, you turn off your own. I’ll continue to permit you to say untrue things about me.
As a secular agnostic, I take umbrage at any suggestion practitioners of any religion that my non-belief somehow disqualifies me from commenting on matters of faith.
Why, you ask? I can read and will posit that such an acquired skill is infinitely more valuable than unquestioning belief in understanding the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of any faith system, including Christianity.
Is this based on experience or just your opinion?
You mentioned you were in a heated discussion where you had to bite your tongue accusing the other party in your conversation of making a racist comment. You then brought the word Christian to the blog as if to degrade the faith. So are you not racist when you refer to “THESE PEOPLE” in regards to manicured nails, fancy cell phones and flat-screen televisions? How about when you discussed Santorum and again I quote, “Regardless of his wild, homophobic rants, this guy takes every opportunity to make loud pronouncements about his Christian faith. Help me understand, it’s okay for an Atheist to have these opinions but Christians are to just go along and keep their opinions to themselves?
You had to close your blog with once again attacking the Christian faith. You really question the intellegence of the viewers on Here Women Talk. I say this because you said that you couldn’t remember the last time you had a devout conversation with a Christian who puts their mouth where their faith is. You had to even throw the colors of this respectable person as it appeared in hopes to cover up your own racism. The evidence clearly shows that the first devout conversation you had with a Christian who puts her mouth where her faith is just happens to be the very same individual you have been attacking in your blog. Is poverty really a concern of yours? Is Poverty the real topic or is this a way to get the approval doubting yourself for any actions associated with the conversation that stated this blog?
I’m sure you’ve already judged me from that last sentence assuming already that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Here it is. My name is Monica a 41 year old mother of three children ages 22, 19 and 15 and yes, I’m a Christian. Since race is of importance, I’m African American, German and Indian. I’m also in that percentage, living below poverty. Is it true that public assistance is mis-used? ABSOLUTELY! I know because I’m on public assistence and because I refuse to stay at home my benefits will be ending shortly. I was just released from Prison associated with writing bad checks to grocery stores, wasn’t eligible for food stamps back then because I knew who my “babies daddy” was and I worked. The week after I was released I went down to the social services office to apply for assistence and was told that if I went to work my benefits would be reduced. I’m only allowed to make 1226 dollars a month in order to keep my benefits. If I stay on assistence, I can get a 20 dollar gas card every other week and bus tickets, free medical insurance for my son, 287 dollars in foodstamps. If I participate in their job training, I’m eligible to get a vehicle after 6 months. I work two jobs because I want a better life but when I go to social services women are hooked up, and yes they have their nails done and are driving nice vehicles. Since I’ve obtained employment I get asked to help assist the non-employed with ideas on obtaining employment for them. These individuals say freely they don’t want to work because they will lose their benefits. You see if you don’t work, you also get what’s called TANF, a supplement when you aren’t getting child support, the more kids you have the more money you get. The system is backwards, they don’t help people who are doing something with their life, they only help the ones that do nothing, that’s where the mis-use of public assistence comes in. So Judge me all you want but let me sum it all up with saying this. I have two jobs, two kids in college and ride the bus. How do you think I feel when I’m sitting at social services not being able to afford Christmas for my kids but the ones who aren’t working are bragging about all the gifts they’ve gotten their children. If you have such a passion for helping the povershed, can you help me with my rent so I can give my kids Christmas? My 19 year old took a part-time job while home for her college break I’m sure to get her 15 year old brother something for Christmas.
I know why help someone who has a different opinion as yours right? You see that’s the joy of the Christian faith, we love and give regardless of the other persons opionions and beliefs. I’m not to proud to accept help from someone who doesn’t agree with me because agreeing has nothing to do with putting food on the table or providing a roof over you head .
I can’t close with out saying that I forgive you for your lack of knowledge, not only on poverty and public assistance but on the Christian faith. You’ve attacked a women who LIVES for assuring NOBODY goes without. I invite you to come to Fredericksburg to see poverty from this angle. If you want to talk to someone from poverty on this side of the map let me know. A suggestion would be for you to blog using an actual individual you’ve helped when dealing with this topic.
Monica, you can call me a racist all day long and it won’t make it so. I wasn’t the one who used or applauded the phrase “plantation mentality” when describing people on public assistance. Like it or not, it IS a racist commend and I was offended. I wasn’t the one bitching about what those people supposedly had or what they were wearing. I wasn’t the claiming to be a Christian in that little rant.
If all you got out of reading this was an attack on Christianity, then you clearly missed the point of it and may want to go back for a re-read. I have many, many Christian friends who I love dearly and who love me, in spite of my non-belief. When I was speaking of Ms. Harper’s heritage, it wasn’t a racist comment – it was to point out that two people of vastly different backgrounds and spiritual beliefs can come together and have a civil discussion about public policy without blaming the victims or making religion a divisive tool. If all you got out of this was “she’s attacking Christians”, then you don’t get it and nothing I say can make it better for you. My experience with poverty? I was the executive director of a local non-profit that dealt with transportation issues of the rural poor that results in them not having access to food, health care, jobs, or basic opportunity. For 5 years I was a member of the County team that helped to reintegrate ex-offenders into society by helping them to find transportation, housing and jobs. I permitted an ex-felon to rent the loft of my home for two years because it was his only hope of not going back to prison and I helped him to find a job and to get a car. He had been convicted of murder. I help migrant workers find housing and helped to provide them with Spanish language BIBLES. Yes, this hopeless Atheist helped these beautiful people to get Bibles in their native language because I knew it would mean so much to them. Monica, I can forgive your ignorance of Atheists. I can forgive your assumptions that I have no experience with poverty or with Christians. I can forgive the fact that you couldn’t get past the very idea that someone would challenge the Christians who only like parts of the Bible and can blissfully ignore the rest. I can even forgive being called a racist when it wasn’t me making the racist comments. I’m sorry you’re struggling. I’m sorry it’s been so hard for you and I’m sorry you’re so angry with what life has dealt you that you feel the need to take it out on me. I can’t pay your rent for you. I can barely pay mine. There will be no gift giving in my home this year because there is no money for gifts. Today is December 17th and tonight will be the first night I have turned on the furnace because I can’t afford to heat the house. And the only reason I’m turning the heat on is not to keep myself warm, but because someone with less than me needed a place to stay and I want them to be warm. You can accuse me of judging others all you want, but it would seem to me that you’ve done plenty yourself here. I wish you the very best and I bid you peace.
The joy of all this is I’m entitled to my opinion and I guarantee you that if there was a live face to face discussion on this topic I wouldn’t be the only one who saw the racism in you. Since you now know my story, you think I’m uneducated and am unable to comprehend what exactly your saying. I actually read your blog too many times just to make sure I was getting what you were saying. What should I have expected from someone who has such a name as yours. I’m a very happy person, with the credentials to back up my recent successes. I can’t wait to share your judgemental remarks about me to The Steve Harvey show to discredit your position especially the way you love to degrade people who disagree with you or perhaps it’s telling you the truth. I’ll give you a standing ovation on renting to an ex-felon but wonder if it was because you’d rather have it rented by someone than by noone. Oh and another thing, why talk about forgiveness if you don’t believe? You use the word ignorance when discribing my opionion. Did you mean to call me a Nigger? Just wondering.
Monica, You need to listen. Sounds to me like you read the article with a chip on your shoulder and just can’t get past yourself.
Carol, can’t agree with you more.
I get that things are difficult. It sounds to me like you’re doing a GREAT JOB surviving with the crappy cards dealt you. Your kids are going to college making it clear that you are trying to make things better for your children. That’s truly awesome not just because they are getting that education, but also because you and your family were able to understand that college was an option, not everyone can in your position.
I saw nothing in Carol’s commentary to demonstrate any racism on her part, other than to reference someone else’s racist comment about “plantation mentality or economics” and to note that she took exception to the comment as racist. That would actually indicate that she was actually NOT racist.
As for attacking Christians….most of the article was about the realities of poverty in this country exacerbated by the income inequality that is growing, even as the people in the best position to make a difference claim to Christianity, but then cleave not to Christ, but to the moneychangers on the temple steps. Self-proclaimed Christians who have the ability to push small-to-them amounts of their wealth down to those in need.
So I could understand it if you took exception as a 1% claiming to be Christian on one hand, and then calling the disadvantaged lazy, manipulative, and undeserving. Or my personal favorite, “not pulling themselves up by the bootstraps” coming from someone who did not bootstrap and in fact did use public resources and monies to further themselves but is so privileged that they cannot even see how they have benefited from public infrastructure.
But as someone in the group that Carol is talking about, she is TAKING YOUR SIDE. She is not taking exception to all Christians, just those that claim Christ-ness while not doing Christ’s work.
I don’t think that includes you.
Jesus isn’t about religion he is about freedom and I find it “abrasive” when you use his name as a defense for your opinion in this area of poverty and assistance when you don’t even believe he exists.
Stats are great and I believe whole heartedly that there are many people, especially children, in need in this country. A lot of those in need are those who work hard all day and fall just above the poverty line which disqualifies them for public assistance. But statistics are one thing and personal experience is another. Several times on HWT I have written and shared about my own experience and supported statistics as founder and director of a non-profit (where I wrote and won 40 grants) that served one of the most disenfranchised populations of women; ex-offenders. In the six year period that I served in this capacity, the organization assisted over 4000 women and children who fall into the “poverty category”. We provided assistance in the areas of food, shelter, Christmas gifts, school supplies, medical care, hygiene items, counseling, and job placement, just to name a few.
The children of these women were in NO way responsible for the situation they were in and needed aid. However, the public assistance government programs that support their mothers, other women and men are designed to keep them impoverished. If you get a job and make any money, while receiving assistance, you are penalized and your food stamps, Taniff and the like are confiscated. Because of this, folks get tied to a mentality, that “not working pays off”. This is robbing them of their destiny and future. Proverbs 28:18 says “Without a vision, people perish”. What most government funded programs do is assonate vision.
Over the years I have seen with my own eyes, more people who are living in subsidized housing, getting food stamps and assistance with large screen TV’s, cable and expensive cell phones. I have also seen the opposite, but not at the same level as those who are taking advantage of the system or should I say who the SYSTEM is taking advantage of.
Currently, I personally mentor several women who were released from prison as recent as one month ago, with absolutely not possessions, NOTHING!!!! They are receiving assistance, but all have gained employment, in a time where unemployment is at its highest and felons are not at the top of the hire list. These women are willing to step out and work to create a better, more fulfilling, productive life rather than be fearful that their assistance will be taken away. Why, because their thinking has been shifted. For two years, I lived on the streets of Washington, D.C., without food, shelter or encouragement. With the help from people who were willing to hold me accountable and tell me the truth about me, I went from the crack house to operating an organization that provided empowerment and help to women just like me; enabling them to walk out their dreams and destiny. For this reason I resent the implication that if I don’t have Lisa Harper’s views on scripture, I am not a Christ-like Christian.
You know Carol for someone who doesn’t believe in God or Jesus you put a lot of stock in one person’s interpretation of the Bible. The bible also says in Philippians 2:12
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, this means that we have a responsibility in our own success. In every miracle that Jesus performed there was always a requirement on behalf of the recipient – the handicapped man who lay by the pool of Bethesda for 38 years waiting for someone to help him into the water to receive his healing. When Jesus got there he didn’t portray him as a victim; he didn’t say “Oh you poor pitiful thing, you haven’t been able to make it into the water, let me help you in”, on the contrary, he simply asked”DO YOU WANT TO WALK? , THEN TAKE UP YOU MAT AND FOLLOW ME” John 5. At that point he healed the man and Jesus took heat for doing so on the on the Sabbath.
What makes me a Christian is that I follow, believe and put my trust in Christ. And Jesus is no respecter of people, what he does for one he will do for another, he transforms minds, encourages souls and allows you to be all that you can be. Perfection, whatever that is, is NOT the characteristic of a Christian, dependence on God is. Because I am a Christian, I can love you Carol even if we don’t agree – I don’t need to accuse you of being heartless, racist or uncaring – I won’t delete you as my friend on face book and I won’t respond to a private conversation on a blog until I have addressed your concerns in private. No matter what your opinion, I can handle it because I know who I am in Christ! Merry Christmas, my pray for us is that we can disagree and respect each other because we are both strong, opinioned women. This words are honest and from my heart.
Lisa, I can’t thank you enough for proving my point. Seriously, just when I was afraid people wouldn’t get it, you came here and drove the point home. All I can say is… thank you. In a single statement, you’ve managed to take the moral high ground and vilify the unemployed, people on public assistance and best of all, me, for being an Atheist. As an Atheist, you assume that I could not have an informed opinion because I don’t “know” Jesus. As a child, I received formal religious instruction, a religious education, minored in religious studies in college and attended church most of my life. Watching Christians judge other people, hurt other people and attempt to force their religion on everyone else, with little respect for people who believe differently from them was enough for me to know Christianity wasn’t for me. Instead, I go out into this world and work hard to defend the defenseless, shelter the homeless, feed the hungry and try to help my fellow man as best I can. I do this not for the punishment or reward that has been promised by God, I do it because it is the right thing to do – because I am predisposed to being a good person.
Sans writing a book here, let me finish with this – you and I are never ever going to agree on this because we have different motives and basic fundamental beliefs. At the risk of being abrasive, I have no interest in having a private conversation with you. Been there, done that. When you confront me one on one, it’s a lot more civil. When you confront me in public, it’s to proselytize and paint me as uninformed because I come armed with statistics and facts instead of scripture. I did not state nor did I imply that people who disagree with Ms. Harper are not Christ-like. I stated flatly and unequivocally that people who claim the moral high ground using scripture to shape public policy because they don’t like their tax dollars being used for anything they don’t personally benefit from aren’t Christ-like. People who use scripture to vilify the poor and blame them for their lot in life aren’t Christ-like and I’m sick of it. If it were Christ-like, we’d all be wearing wristbands that said WWJB? *Who Would Jesus Blame?
Happy Holidays to you, Lisa.
Greetings Carol: This is a complex issue. I am a state employee times 12 years with prior professional work in the private sector. I know full well that there will always be others who take advantage of the system. My clients with multiple disabilities barely subsist. I am their “go to person and safety net” for 8 hours a day. Poverty should not be political… but it is… I would have to contemplate a more thorough response…. In the meantime… more fuel added to this fire Corruption on a small scale in one of the “richest of states” my home state- Connecticut …and some of the most devastating poverty. See what someone discovered “under the carpet” at the Department of Social Services. Link:
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-foodstampfraud-troopers1214-20111213,0,1266982.story
Donna “Ladyjustice”
“Opinionated and one of many Classy Lesbians”
http://www.donnagore.com
The linked article makes a great point, Donna. We don’t hear about how genuinely needy people are barely scraping by – and only doing that with lifelines like you. We only get to hear about the abuse of the system. Scandal is sexy and everyone likes to hear about that, but percentage-wise, no one can tell me exactly what percent of the total outlay goes to people who don’t deserve it. There IS abuse is the system and I freely acknowledge that. Abolishing all forms of public assistance and relying on the kindness of others isn’t realistic and it certainly isn’t Christian – especially when those who claim to be morally superior are some of the best off in all the land. Yes, it’s complicated, but government MUST take a role in caring for our most vulnerable citizens. We seem to have all the money in the world to make war, but feeding a hungry child is “Socialism”. Well, butter my butt and call me a biscuit! I’m a Socialist!
Hi Carol: Thanks so much for your reply. Yes, government must have some role. But indeed the question is how much and how best to implement? ‘Hope you and your fan club will take time to review the variety of issues on my website – homicide survivor, LGBTQ, disabilities etc!
‘See you around the ranch!
Donna-“Ladyjustice”
http://www.donnagore.com
Thank you Carol for your insight and perspective on this issue. I too feel like the Republicans have hijacked religion and use it as a wedge issue to make them appear to be “more” Christian than others. Yet, to me, they are not Christ Like. I have a great deal of respect for ministers like Jim Wallis of Sojourners who do put their Christianity to great use for social justice. Poverty is a moral issue. Equality is a moral issue. Greed is a moral issue. Faith is not just what you believe, but who you help along the way. Greed has no offer of help. I loved having Lisa Sharon Harper on the show and I hope everyone will listen to the archives and hear her words of compassion and love. We at Broadsided will keep this conversation going. It is important and worthy of our time. Amen.
And thank you, Vicki, for being another Christian who embodies the true spirit of Christ, for being my friend and for being the captain of the Broadsided ship. Love you, Sister.
I like this post!
My father worked 2-3 jobs my entire childhood, we still couldn’t make bills , yet welfare told my mother that he made too much money to go on assistance and for us to get insurance! My mother had to almost die before she could get help and when I applied a year and a half ago so I could continue to receive my depression and anxiety meds I was told I was told I had a better chance of getting insurance and food stamps if i spoke with an accent or was interracial!
I think the government should look at who is receiving the assistance and take those who are using the system off of it. I see so many who don’t need yet use it while others struggle to feed their families yet can’t get it.
Fae, I’m sorry someone told you you’d have a better chance of receiving assistance if you were a minority or spoke with an accent. It was a racist thing on their part to say. If minorities receive more public assistance, it’s because statistically, they face higher unemployment, are more likely to live in abject poverty and have seen their median income shrink at a far greater rate than any segment of society. Welfare and public assistance guidelines are not based on color, they’re based on numbers. The problem in your case is and has been the issue of access to health care and according to the United Nations Statement of Human Rights that was adopted in 1948, it’s a basic human right. In the richest nation in the world, Social Conservatives call it a “privilege”. It’s why I’ve fought so hard for health care for all, something President Obama wanted. If the entire nation had a Medicare type program, the government would have leverage to negotiate fair prices on drugs and medical costs would be controlled. Drug companies and the people who run health care in this county lobby hard against it because in America, there is a vast amount of money to be made off of the suffering of our people. Medicare, despite all it’s flaws’ has been one of the most efficiently run programs, providing more access to affordable health care, than any program in the history of this country. You deserve better. As for people getting assistance who don’t need it: there will always be abuses in the system, but far more people getting that assistance really do need it and without it, would be homeless, hungry and dead. And I’ve seen more than my share of white people with no accent who I suspected didn’t need it. Fraud isn’t the sole purview of minorities. By the way, my Dad worked 2 jobs and my mother worked full time. We lived in abject poverty and never received a dime of public assistance.