Living like the poor.....but only for a few days.
Glinda linked to a story today about a store manager humiliating a shopper using food stamps.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/food-stamps-kroger-grocery_n_19...
This story sparked a little conversation today amongst VOTS members. I have been on food stamps and it's just a humiliating experience. However, without the assistance I'm not sure how I would have taken care of my family. I was working full time and living in a small trailer. Life was quite depressing and very stressful. I hope that I never again find myself sitting in an uninviting government office filling out an application for food stamps. I hope all of you reading never find yourself in that situation. But if you do need them, I hope they are available. We need to make sure programs like that remain available for our brothers and sisters who need help. That's why I was impressed when I read that the Mayor of Phoenix accepted a challenge to live a week only on food he purchased using food stamps.
http://ktar.com/22/1577632/Phoenix-mayor-spends-week-on-food-stamps-
Well, it's no surprise he lost weight. Food of convenience is fattening while food made from 'scratch' is usually more nutritious but most people today lack even rudimentary cooking skills. The mayor is to be commended for actually following through and living on food stamps for a week. I think that every single politician (from the county level to the White House) should have to spend a week on food stamps. Have you ever been so poor that you took your kids to the county clinic for their school vaccinations? If you have then you know what a pleasant experience that is for you as a parent. Let our politicians walk a few days wearing our shoes and see how quickly they think that these programs need to be eliminated.
Oh, and if you can stomach it read the comments at the end of the story. There are a lot of small minded people out there who think that the poor are merely shiftless and lazy. Being poor is hard work. Being stupid is easy.
Comments
Not exactly the same topic/issue,
but I often thought that members of Congress should have to sign up for healthcare insurance for themselves and their families outside of what the "government" offers them. They could not staff it out, they had to do it on their own.
Okay, granted, the taxpayers would be paying for it, but I so wanted Congress to "walk in our shoes" for six months or a year.
Whatever their current policies cost, that should be the money they have to find their own health insurance policies all on their own.
And they should do it now -- since preexisting conditions still exist prior to the "saving grace" cough, cough ACA goes into effect.
send their kids to the public schools
I was so disappointed when Obama chose to enroll his girls in a private school. President Carter was the last resident of the White House to send his child to a public school. If it's good enough for the majority of the country then it should be good enough for them. Please, the excuse that security was an issue is just silly. I'm fairly certain the Secret Service can secure a public school. I agree with you, let them walk the walk and see how the blisters feel.
Are you a West Wing fan? Have you watched all the
seasons?
Just curious. Then I'll add more commentary later.
Early West Wing had some high quality writing
I was hooked on West Wing in the beginning. I probably stayed with it for 3 seasons before I lost interest. Course, back then the kids were smaller and it was pretty much impossible to watch a 'big person' show. I think Aaron Sorkin is a very gifted writer. Heck, he wrote A Few Good Men when he was 27 or 28. Wrote that without ever having served. That's pretty darn good. But to answer your question, I think West Wing sort of caved in on itself after the first couple of seasons. However, I would be extremely reluctant to criticize a writer as gifted as Sorkin.
when you're on food stamps now...
it helps if you have a decent food bank in town, because it's really hard to actually feed a family with food stamps. It can be done, I've done it, but the extras from the food bank really do help.