But Tell Us, How Do You Really Feel About the Poor?

Here is a very clear statement of the Conservative view of poverty in this country.  As is my habit, I will not link to it; and in this case, I will not even identify the author of this grotesque document.  I hope you will trust me when I tell you that it really exists.  I must warn you that my efforts to comment on it fall far short of the condemnation that it, its author, and the many people that believe such things, deserve.

"US suffering from massive equality of rich and poor 

Propaganda is about telling a good story. So when the media wants to tell a story of how the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer, they ignore incovenient facts, such as the value of the various federal, state, and local transfer payments, as well as the value of charitable contributions from private groups such as soup kitchens."

Soup kitchens.  Yes, when "the media" want to tell you how badly the poor have it, they ignore the contribution of soup kitchens to their standard of living.  I mean, "are there no workhouses?," if you get where I'm coming from.

"But if you look not at income but material wealth, the story gets worse, but in an opposite way. By examining material possessions we find that the gap between the rich and poor is actually alarmingly small. Let's look at a few categories:"

Let's not look at income, right?  I mean, if a person has a cell phone, it's not a problem for them to live in constant fear of destitution, if they have a medical bill, or get in a car crash and can't get to work.

"Transportation. Rich people have cars. But many poor people have them too..."

A 1987 Oldsmobile is just the same as a Lamborghini.

"Food: For thousands of years, the poor were semi-starved, and for the most part, they were vegetarians, but not by choice. Now everyone, and I mean everyone, gets to eat meat..."

Steroid-filled, uninspected meat, yeah, but it is meat.

"Communications: Even the poorest person can get a phone, and not just a phone, but a cellphone...

"Electronics: Many of the poor have complex entertainment systems that rich people only fifty years ago could not even dream of."

Actually, they couldn't even dream of them, because they didn't exist.  And i wonder how many of those rich people from fifty years ago would have traded in their houses for a slum rooming house and a phone.

"Healthcare: Even before Obamacare, hospitals were obligated to provide emergency care to anyone, regardless of ability to pay"

They were not, of course, required to provide long term care for cancer victims and others who suffer from chronic conditions.  Perhaps the poor can go to the emergency room and beg for chemotherapy.

"Education: It is true that there is a disparity in primary education, because of a lack of school choice. The rich live in districts with much better schools than in inner cities. But college education is heavily subsidized for the poor with a massive federal student loan program..."

Loans are not subsidies, jackass.  They leave many students with lifelong crushing debt.  And note that, according to this jerk, the only thing missing in public education is "school choice," i.e. creating a system that allows the rich to profit hansomely from something that was once a public trust.  That sure is a benefit to the poor who, to paraphrase the old saying, are just as free as the rich to start a charter school scam to enrich themselves at the expense of their neighbors' children.

"Housing: Many of the poor live in unsafe neighborhoods, it is true, but compared to their counterparts they live like kings. They have running water, toilets, stoves, and electricity--just as the rich do."

They have toilets!  They have toilets!!!  They live in unsafe neighborhoods, but they have toilets!  And they are gifted by their betters with running water!  Maybe polluted water, but still...  What the hell are they complaining about?

"This record amount of equality between rich and poor is very troubling. It's troubling because a massive amount of taxation and redistribution is required to accomplish this, which kills job creation and reduces the poor's incentive to work, promoting dependency and listlessness."

I can't even think of anything to say which is sufficiently contemptuous of that self-serving Republican lie, which we hear over and over again, and the vicious spirit which lies behind it.

"I think we need to do something to increase the material gap between the rich and poor to create more jobs and more incentives to work. The massive amount of equality between rich and poor is a moral blot on America's character that we should all be ashamed of."

I swear I didn't make that up.  This is the true spirit of Republicans across this country, unmasked for all to see.  Screw the poor!  Take things away from them, so I can have more!  It is a moral blot that the poor have so much; i.e. it would outrage Jesus, who never would have tolerated such a thing.

This is your "Christian," right wing American patriot today.  This is a value system of utmost evil, and it is the true enemy of decent people everywhere in the world.  And don't forget that, if they can just win back the Presidency, they will be able to bend the largest military on earth to their will, just like the last time we had a Republican President; and look where that left us.