I try not to delve into politics too often on here—I’ve seen enough on TV and the Internet to know that it usually only leads to closed minds and closed fists. However, there’s a video I saw online recently that I think a lot of people have been misinterpreting.
I consider Michelle Bachmann… I wouldn’t know where to start. I have no idea where she comes up with her personal or political ideology and she’s a complete whackjob as far as I can tell. How she’s been elected into the House of Representatives multiple times is beyond me. That being said, this is one of the most recent soundbites for which she’s being vilified:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsMrd6YpUFEThe negative reaction I’ve read on the Internet (and the title of the video on YouTube, for that matter) is that Michelle Bachmann doesn’t want people to eat! She thinks poor people should starve to death! More food for the rich! EEEEEEEVILLLL!!!! Well, maybe that’s blowing it a bit out of proportion, but you get the idea.
My interpretation of the speech is that she’s being pretty straight-forward: Lazy people shouldn’t be given handouts. If you’re willing to put in a solid day’s work, you should receive a solid day’s pay. That’ll put food on the table and it’ll help the economy or whatever she was trying to promote during her speech. It’s an honorable sentiment, but it’s also incredibly naive.
There are plenty of people out there who can’t put food on the table. Some are indeed very lazy, but some have been laid off, some can’t find work, some are underemployed… honest to God, I’ve heard of a lawyer who needed government assistance (I don’t remember if it was food stamps, welfare or both) because she did so much pro bono work and rarely got paid by her clients. Just because people want to work doesn’t automatically mean they can work, so if Bachmann gets elected and slashes funding for some of those programs, want-to-be-hard-working people may go to sleep hungry at night.
Is there a good solution? Hell if I know. I haven’t looked at any charts or diagrams or statistics to show me anything about the current economic situation. Not that they’d actually show me anything—ever hear the quote about “lies, damn lies and statistics”? What I do know is that if we’re going to start solving some of these problems, people are going to have to take off their blinders and look at everything, not just what they want to look at based on their political affiliation. Open eyes, open minds, open hands? Just a thought.
