November 19, 2013

At least the war on the poor is going well

That's a paraphrase of a bumper sticker that said the same thing about the environment.  I have said this before, but will continue to say that one of the things that has shocked me the most is the right wing's outright hatred toward poor people.  That used to be limited, I think, to those who received welfare benefits and didn't work.  After all, it was under Reagan that we got the Earned Income Tax Credit which assisted working people who hovered just under the poverty line.  But those days are gone.  Republicans today can't stand anyone who gets federal assistance, unless, of course, it is in the form of farm subsidies.

So we want to cut assistance for the poor, and the idea of raising the minimum wage makes Republican heads explode.  That is why we get stories like this one, where Walmart is having a food drive for their workers.  Their workers don't have enough to eat, and if Republicans get their way, they won't have much in federal assistance, so the only alternative is to beg from Walmart customers to donate food for employees.

I will say this.  At least someone in George Bush's camp believed that compassion was actually a Christian requirement.  We can certainly argue with how they implemented that, but at least they thought it worthy to push.  Modern Republicans are openly hostile to the poor and are doing everything they can to cut the safety net.  Too bad so many of those Republicans wave the Bible in one hand while voting for Ayn Rand's dream.

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