If you can afford beer, cigarettes, new tattoos, drugs, and cable TV . . .
Then you don't need food-stamps or welfare.
"Like" if you agree.
Not many people would likely disagree with this specific proposition. However, I think that this post on Facebook represents a general attitude of resentment that is propelling a regressive Republican agenda that could not possibly get support on its merits. It is pretty clear that people who post and "Like" this statement are probably picturing African Americans at the check out counter of the local QuickTrip. The Republican Party has been tapping into the racial resentments of working class white people since Richard Nixon invented the "Southern Strategy" in the 1968. White people, particularly in the South, seem to become irate to think that some of their hard-earned money is being taxed away from them and doled out to undeserving "Welfare Queens" or someone meeting the above description. In this clip from 1981 the late Republican strategist Lee Atwater admits to the methods the GOP has used in race-baiting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=X_8E3ENrKrQ
And, no doubt, there are some people out there getting food-stamps, Medicaid, welfare, or some other government support who spend money on beer and cigarettes and other non-necessities. But the amount of our national budget that slips through the cracks in this manner has to be a mere drop in the bucket compared to the money squandered on needless wars, corporate welfare, tax breaks for rich people, and many of our other fiscal follies. It seems to me that a voter shouldn't let this type of resentment overwhelm all other concerns. And, furthermore, who is to say that Republicans are actually going to do anything about this particular concern of many of the electorate?
Resentment seems to be at the forefront of the Republican Party's platform. Resentment of blacks, Latinos, immigrants, gays and lesbians, Muslims, Europeans, non-religious people, poor people, old people, disabled people, indeed, resentment of anybody who does not meet the description of upper middle class and upper class white people who attend church on Sunday and earn an income substantial enough to be required to pay federal income taxes. Somehow though, very few of these uber-resentful people seem to resent the continuing efforts of the Republican Party to redistribute wealth upwards to the wealthiest in our society. It has been frequently noted that many Republican voters repeatedly vote against their own financial best interests. I saw a statistic a while back to the effect that some 35% of union members are registered Republicans. This is really hard to believe in light of the Republican Party's traditional hostility to the common worker. The Republicans are very good at raising red flags to distract working class people from the fact that the GOP makes every effort to disadvantage the worker every time it gets a chance. During the Bush Administration hardly a week went by without some note in the media of some Administration effort to destabilize unions, reduce or eliminate the minimum wage, or limit overtime pay. It was always something. You wonder what average working people are thinking. They seem not to notice. Jobs shipped overseas? Does the term "Free Trade" ring any bells? And who is the party of "Free Trade?" Yep. Your friends, the Republicans. Free Trade basically means that it becomes profitable to ship jobs to countries like China, where workers get paid in nickels and dimes.
Resentment. Some day some of these Tea Party folk are going to figure out that they have been had--hook, line, and sinker. I hope they figure it out before the GOP completely destroys the Middle Class in this country.
http://voice4america.com/
As always, well written and to the point. Thanks.
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