The old conservative narrative about welfare mothers and free handouts is getting so old it is nothing more than a confession to not caring about the poor. The days of welfare checks and people living off the government is over; it has been crushed over the last 40 years by Reagan, Clinton and every president after.
They have squeezed government programs out of the hands of what they call “freeloaders,” with supplemental work programs, and low-wage job offers that there probably is no one who fit the stereotype of a welfare queen any longer. Few, if any. Now its military families, rural poor, and actual working families.
The current struggle is surviving on low-wage pay and finding a life between two and three jobs; being able to raise children on a flat income and searching for any disposable income when available. Conservative pundits and politicians need to stop the welfare argument because now it is nothing more than a confession to not helping the poor.
For instance, the Nebraska governor, Jim Pillen flat out said “I don’t believe in welfare.” As if these words will put an end to the problem of poor, underpaid people in the country. Apparently, he remains locked in the Reagan era welfare queen episode of American disorder. This is a show of complete condescension and Christian hypocrisy.
“Nebraska’s Republican governor on Friday reiterated his rejection of $18 million in federal funding to help feed children who might otherwise go hungry while school is out.
The program — part of federal assistance made available during the COVID-19 pandemic — would provide pre-loaded EBT cards to families whose children are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches at school. Those families would receive $40 per eligible child per month over the summer. The cards can be used to buy groceries, similar to how SNAP benefits are used.
“COVID-19 is over, and Nebraska taxpayers expect that pandemic-era government relief programs will end too,” Pillen said in his statement. Pillen announced on Dec. 19 that Nebraska would not participate in the program. He has drawn a firestorm of criticism for later defending that stance at a news conference by saying, “I don’t believe in welfare.”
States that participate in the federal program are required to cover half of the administrative costs, which would cost Nebraska an estimated $300,000. Advocates of the program note that the administrative cost is far outweighed by the $18 million benefit, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates would benefit 175,000 Nebraska children who might otherwise go hungry on some days during the summer.”
Here is the new version of the problem of the poor. A single mother is not on welfare and she does not get a check because she works full time, maybe two jobs like many others. The pay is not enough to cover all the expenses and cost of inflation in rent, utilities, car notes and insurance, (if she has one), and certainly does not cover a monthly food bill with the prices of groceries these days.
So instead, many families rely on supplemental food stamps and lunch programs for their children year-round and especially when school is out in the summer. But of course, there is always a conservative to call this situation welfare and the recipients, leaches of the government. Never acknowledging the reality of life of corporate exploitation of workers and consumers.
Without offering a plan to actually help, such as asking local business to up their pay or to lower their prices, these capitalist opportunists are on the side of the businesses and support them in gouging the working poor for everything they earn outside of government funding. Yet, state governors reject government assistance for the poor but take all they can get from the government subsidies to help businesses.
Conservatives simply need to admit that they hate the poor, do not have solutions, and cannot govern according to the needs of all the people. There will always be poor people among us and the answer is not to starve them, criminalize them, or to lock them away in prison cells.
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