Every single person in America on government assistance of any type is a 400 lb. meth-smoking, child-abusing, alcoholic, freeloader who is too lazy to work and purposely sponges off the government while they ride around in those little carts at Wal Mart in their pajamas at 4:00 in the afternoon and run into you because they are texting on their new iPhones.  

This seems to be the prevailing belief here in Oklahoma among every Republican. And since I’m the only Democrat in the entire state (except for Miss Order,) that means I have to deal with this cringe-worthy hyperbole constantly. Every time I sign on Facebook I find myself scrolling past memes like these: 

I get it. You work hard for the money (so hard for it, honey) and you find the idea of giving part of that money to someone who doesn’t share your work ethic to be offensive. I’ll be the first to admit that there are many on assistance who are scamming the system. There are also those who have the ability and opportunity to work and simply don’t want too, or are using the assistance they receive on things other than baby formula and mac and cheese. I’ll also admit that assistance has the ability to breed dependency and complacency. But to perpetuate the stereotype that everyone on assistance is completely unworthy of it just makes you look stupid, insensitive, and often – racist. 

I often hear the sentiment: “Everyone has the same opportunities in America. Everyone can attain the American dream through hard work and perseverance.” Really?!?!? Everyone in American has the same opportunities?!?!?! I don’t know what planet you’re living on, but it bears no resemblance to America.  

I could point to the cliched trust-fund baby as an example, but instead I’ll point to myself. My father was unemployed when I was born, and my mother was very sick. Obviously we were poor and we lived in a ram-shackled rent house in a terrible part of town. My father did finally get a job but remained under-employed until I was in my early teens. Things finally got better and we moved to a better house in the suburbs.Then, just before I was going to leave for college, my father became unemployed again and took on menial labor just to get us by. College seemed like an impossibility but I was not to be deterred. I worked three jobs simultaneously while attending college so that I could pay my way through school. 

I sound like a typical Republican who prides himself in having pulled himself up by his boot-straps and made his way in the world despite difficult odds don’t I? After all, I never received a cent of assistance (not even a government backed student loan) so obviously I didn’t have any kind of advantage that others didn’t have, did I? 

Duh…of course I did. I was born a white male. That automatically opened doors for me. Even though I was born poor, I got to go to a good school system that provided me with an education that made college academically attainable. I lived in a place that had clean food and water, so I stayed healthy. I had the support system of a family that cared about my success. I had advantages that MILLIONS of Americans don’t have.  

There are people who have been seriously injured on the job that need assistance. There are single moms who are trying to raise children and work and do the best they can who need assistance. There are people who are born in a level of poverty that I’ll never be able to comprehend that need assistance. There are hard working folks who have lost their jobs who are working at McDonald’s for minimum wage while they try to find better jobs that need assistance. There are people with no access to a decent education that need assistance. There are people who have no access to health care who need assistance. And none of these people are 400 lb. meth- smoking, child-abusing, alcoholic, freeloaders who are too lazy to work. 

Sure, there needs to be reform so that assistance is going to people who really need it and not to people who are abusing the system, but that is a long and very difficult process. 

I’m now an upper-middle class person who works hard every day and who pays a shit-load of taxes, and I don’t bemoan a single penny of those taxes that go to entitlement programs, welfare, or Obamacare. For every person that abuses the system, there are probably five more who really need the help to have the advantages that I’ve had. I’m proud that a portion of my tax dollars go to help those people.  

I always thought America was a country of compassion. I think it’s sad that it’s it becoming a place where it is considered patriotic (and even “Christian”) to tell others who are less fortunate than we are to go fuck themselves. 

Edit: If you’d like to see yet another example of this typical mindset, go read Dan’s current post.