It’s time for a systematic change. I believe we need to take a good hard look at our government programs, how they are failing us, and the draconian rules that have applied for too long to systems that should be designed to help those in need and those who are oppressed.
As someone who has needed the benefits from this system all of his life, which was supposedly designed to help, it seems to me it has done nothing but punish those who need help by telling them things like, “well, you can only be married for so long or you can’t be married at all because if you’re married or you attempt to get married you lose your benefits.” And then I began to ask myself what kind of a system is designed to punish people for wanting to have a decent quality of life? Why do we take people who are 70 or 80 years old who have been married all of their life and drive them apart, just so they can have health care benefits or money to live on? Or to punish so many, like myself, who are disabled and who have had to survive on government assistance all of their life? I remember as a small child my parents having to ask various organizations for help, and every time we turned around we always heard “there’s no money, there’s no money.” And it’s still the same argument today, “no money, no money.”
I understand that states like mine often have financial shortfalls. But how is it that my state can somehow find the money to open a casino? Where did the revenue come from? Why can’t we finance the programs in this state that keep things going for everyday people? Why must we punish people by telling them that we can’t afford it when in fact we’re taking in large amounts of revenue from gambling? Why is it that we tell people time and time again that they can’t have this and they can’t have that, when in fact the federal government is not broke? In fact, the federal government can spend trillions of dollars on a war for profit by every year, while its citizens suffer.
That’s why I believe it’s up to progressives to put forth a green New Deal in which people can get the job they want and can change these draconian rules so people can live in comfort and happiness. While I’m not one that encourages cheating, the system forces you to cheat in order to survive, and then when it catches you it punishes you by threatening to take away your benefits.
So I say, let’s work as real progressives to change society to get rid of these archaic rules on a federal level so that people can live comfortably. So that they don’t feel they have to cheat or that they have to do something awful just to survive. Because when you do that, all you do is pit people against each other” brother against brother, family against family” and that is no way to live. Using the power of our modern monetary system, MMT, we can create a New Deal that guarantees anyone a job if they wish, and that covers health care for every man, woman, and child.
I would love to see these rules change at a Federal level. I would like the opportunity to get married without being punished for it. Isn’t that what civilized society should be about? People should be happy in the end. Freedom should not belong only to the people who make 7- or 8-figure salaries, but to all of us regardless of our race, our beliefs, or what we do to survive. For what is life if you cannot enjoy it? I always say that America can truly be a great country, but only if we choose to make it that way.