Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Is A Bad Idea
I remember when a facebook friend of mine had a status
that said: Drug testing for welfare recipient, GENIUS! I looked at that post
and thought: He never needed food stamps ever did he? He grew up in a middle
class suburb at a time when the middle class was roaring like a freight train
all over this country. He is a white gay man who doesn’t know the realities of
those on food stamps. Most people who support this may come from a few vantage points:
Food stamp recipients are lazy (I qualified for them while I wasn’t working but
collecting unemployment and looking for work) that food stamp recipients are
all drug users (states that have implemented that policy doesn’t bear out that view)
and that somehow if you are on assistance you must be using drugs. Simply put,
this is a conservative view that a man who lobbied for marriage equality parroted
this on his page. I don’t see how someone getting 1K/yearly through foodstamps
can crash the economy but Wal Mart and GE getting millions of dollars while
paying no taxes gives the economy a boost.
But speaking of economy, the more these states pass these
bills, the more I am thinking of one organization. ALEC, ALEC is responsible
for the Stand Your Ground Law and is a corporate interest group that is pushing
legislation like this to promote profit at the peoples’ expense. To me, this
SMACKS of ALEC stamp of approval
You’re going to be blown away: 2%
Yes you saw that 2% and another report here: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/08/04/welfare-white-and-drugless/
shows that welfare recipients are LESS likely to use drugs than the general
population. Also let me state that like Rick Perry’s sister who will get rich
from the new abortion law (not only are they profit over people, they’re also
profit over principles) Governor Scott stood to gain money from this law
because he transferred his testing clinics to HIS WIFE…Now I also believe that
when the recipient passes the test, they must be reimbursed. So this doesn’t
save any money and soon EVERY single state that offers this “service to save
money” is only interested in making more money for themselves. It is a terrible
day in America when we would give money to the rich and starve the poor. This
is the perpetuation of anecdotal evidence, lazy scholarship or none at all,
same stereotypes that we’ve been dealing with since Reagan’s famous “Welfare
Queen” speech was given in 1980. Even after it’s been debunked for years, it
still fits into a narrative that despises the poor while refusing to acknowledge
the deeper socioeconomic issues that make the need for assistance possible as
well as the very system of drug use fueled by low socioeconomic status as well
as poorly financed communities. Not only is it a bad idea, it’s like saying: I’m
going to tax you 30% keep your wages the same then I’m going to ridicule you
when you need help. This is simply
saying: it’s your fault that you’re poor; we will close you off to education
and other higher pursuits and keep that for ourselves.
Another part of these laws that I’m suspicious of is how
they will implement or justify these tests. Will we have rogue social workers
on the lookout for any suspicion of drug use to say “probable cause”? Do some
of the legislation have referrals to a treatment facility or what if they have
kids? Will they go home and beat the hell out of the kids for complaining that
they’re hungry? These seem to me another way to continue the failed war on
drugs that was waged with the Reagan years that simply meant: Not tough on
cocaine, but crack and other urban drugs...what about the war on poverty? That
went down when they waged war on it, and we need another one right now. THIS is
not the way to go. The best way to go is
1.
Increase the monthly benefits as they are not
enough to feed a family now. Close a loophole and/or tax subsidy for businesses
to pay for it
2.
Investing in education, and even FREE classes for
adult education, not private ones. This includes white and blue collar jobs as
well as vocational schools for skilled labor. If you offer free education and
pay the teachers with grants, I am sure we can find people willing and eager to
learn these new skills, get their certifications and move on up the ladder of
success
3.
Funding urban schools the same way that we fund
suburban ones. Our cities are a hub that could bring great things to the
neighboring suburbs
4.
Fully fund things like infrastructure, bridges
and roads, public transportation. This creates jobs not only for the
construction crew (and having education and FREE training programs for them—if they
miss more than 2 classes they must pay for them) but for local businesses
5.
See what we can do to make sure that city construction
is done by companies that hire LOCAL CITY DWELLERS, and other things.
6.
Raising the minimum wage. Many people who claim
that people can live off of the current $7.25 minimum wage are probably not
living on it now. They don’t know how hard it is. I say that the minimum wage
should be closer to $12. According to the Economic Policy Institute Research
and Ideas for Shared Prosperity they say that if the minimum wage kept pace
with inflation and cost of living that it would be around $19. Senator
Elizabeth Warren has said it should be about $22 so I’ll say it should be at
least $19
7.
Close corporate loopholes and put those monies
into the above things and we would see
our economy turn around
8.
I also say that in urban areas, we should put
solar panels onto places like shared housing, and put forth a program that
would be able to teach people how to harvest and use solar and wind energy for
electricity like they do in Germany
9.
This is an interesting one too. Encouraging
neighborhood gardens like the Massachusetts St Market (?) so that it can become
a place for the neighborhood to get fruits and vegetables at appropriate
seasons. And also teach children how to grow indoor vegetables if possible.
This can help alleviate hunger as well as teach them how precious our food
supply is. This could lead to great possibilities, I can see it: All these
plots of urban farms (in lawns, backyards on rooftops etc) This could decrease
a great deal of hunger in children. It also gives them a skill to hone
10.
Reach out to broad coalitions to make them
possible. Working partnerships can definitely bring folks together around a
common goal that otherwise would be unmet
A local thing I would do is take some of the power from
NFTA and have city wide public transit with a few routes going after midnight.
I say take a survey of those working overnight and maybe run those every 45
minutes to an hour but that’s a whole ‘nother subject
So besides blaming poor people for being poor and rigging
the tax code against us, conservative narrative will never come close to a real
solution for hunger. Just blame the
hungry and say they’re not worth it while telling the Koch brothers and ALEC to
pass the shrimp.
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