Ronald Reagen liked to cite the "welfare queen" who arrived in her limousine to pick up her welfare check (or something like that); and it was pretty effective in turning people against the social network that Democrats believe government should provide.
Now, as if in echo, Former House Majority Leader Tom Delay claims that extending unemployment benefits is bad policy, because it encourages unemployment. He claims that "studies show" that people wait until a few weeks before the benefit is going to run out before they look for a job.
I'm sure you can find a few individuals who take advantage of the system that way, just as there may well have been some individual who arrived in high style to get her welfare check.
Tell that to the 98% of those who have lost their jobs in this Republican recession -- those who are desperate for work and who look every day, hoping to keep their homes and feed their children.
This kind of out-of-touch Republicanism only works because they also sell misinformation ("Obama is leading us into socilism"), and people buy their lies and wind up voting against their own interests.
The Democrats have got to find some way to break that combination.
Ralph
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Greetings Ralph,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, let me say I enjoy your blog. I remember Reagan's 'Welfare Queen' very well. It was a story that the neo-cons got a lot of mileage from, and it was a dpressingly long time before the media got around to discovering that she never existed.
Of course Delay is lying, as well. Or at the very least, he's making an out of context intepretation of a likely partisan poll. He lacks Ronnie's folksy charm, but he also lacks the relative level of comfort most people were living in in Reagan's time.
There will be some who will parrot Delay's contention, I'm sure the media has reliably spread his message without researching it's validity.
Most people outside urban centers, didn't know anyone who had to resort to public assistance in the 80's, but most everyone today knows someone who has lost their job. I think that too many people are unemployed or underemployed right now for Delay's message to have much resonance.
Thanks for posting your message. You are welcome to do so anytime.
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