South Dakota GOP Candidate Likens Food Stamp Recipients to Animals

a reply to: theantediluvian

I apologize,I see that wasn't you.

I'm poor,I'm not judging anyone for they're income.

If welfare is needed that's what it's there for, but to always use it shows dependents, and no desire to stand on their own.

No one wants to live within their means, and no one wants to take risks anymore to better themselves.

There are better jobs.
Education isn't always the answer, and everyone should learn a trade to fall back on. Even if that's not their dream.

Internet is convenient as are cellphones, cable, computers, big screen TVs, but not necessary.
Show me some numbers of welfare recipients who have these things. I'll bet it's close to if not a 100%.

My younger sister, and her foolish husband came to me not long ago asking for money to pay some bills.

Low income on welfare, and young, of course I helped, but not without a lecture.

Both were texting on Facebook with fancy looking phones, and that moron even had the gall show off his new 130 dollar pants to me. I make a little more than double his wages, and he has pants that cost nearly as much as three days worth of full outfits for me.

There is to much entitlement, in our young Americans, and not enough pride, and desire to do better.

I'm sorry, I see the lousy state our economy, but I'll not be convinced that so many people need welfare.

If I can make anyone can. Look at the trucking industry, it takes no time to get a CDL , and the industry is over a million drivers short. It's a hard life, but pays more than enough for a family of five to life without assistance. I know.

As much as we may act like it, human beings aren't the same as animals.

Undoubtedly, humans can be habituated like animals, but we have enough brain power and desire for something better than to stay on the dole if the opportunity presented itself. I think you'd have a hard time convincing Yogi and BooBoo to stay out of the dumpsters even when the salmon are running or when there are enough roots and berries to go around.

I have had experience with both sides of this coin. I grew up poor, but was never on welfare. But in my neighborhood many of my friends were. When food stamps hit, it was a gift for some who come from really poor areas to be able to take care of their kids. It is hard to get a job when you write a certain address down on a application. Of this I have experience. If you come from a neighborhood infamous for drugs or crime(as most poor neighborhoods are) you are less likely to get a call back. Especially in big cities. In this regard, it can help kids get food that they otherwise would not have. To say it breeds dependence is missing this part of the equation.

On the other hand, their are people who scam the system routinely. Around tax return time it was like christmas, as any unclaimed kids where quickly claimed by others with no affiliation, in order to get the tax refund to it's highest amount. Some would cash 5000 to 10000 dollar checks without ever making above the poverty level. You would see guys who live in the dirtiest of neighborhoods all of a sudden driving a car with 7000 dollar rims on it. You knew it was tax refund time in the ghetto. The kids saw little if any of this money. And I have personally accompanied my friend to the Winn Dixie to buy 150 dollars of groceries for a random person for 80 dollars cash. This happens also all the time. It is as commonplace as the tax refund scam. So it is definitely broken in some ways. But what do you do?

I think someone should make a nation wide newsletter that is mailed out before elections that keeps a record of how the politicians voted not just for key issues, but for all issues. I also think to fix it we would have to make campaign contributions fully transparent. Then you know who you are really electing, as they will never tell the truth. And find someone with true integrity who believes in helping the people in meaningful ways and see how long it is before he gets JFK'd.

It's set up to be divisive and to keep you arguing about nonsense while the corporations and wealthy slip through laws that benefit themselves over all others while keeping foot pressure upon the necks of those that figure it out. I believe a quote from the Bible that is usually attributed to Lincoln says it best: "If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand." So keep on getting that Republican Vs. Democrat blood flowing. The plutocrats will keep pulling the Kansas City Shuffle.

a reply to: theantediluvian

Been spending most of our life living in the foodstamp paradise, money into foodstamps, foodstamps into power, minute after minute, hour after hour.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Please read my comment so I don't get flagged for spamming or somesuch. But you can't assume that those who are poor are poor because they choose to. The politicians offering change for all of these years... haven't made good on their promises. At all. Sure some number look nice, percentages increased by 2-10% for this that and the other, but that has NOT improved anything. In fact it just looks like things are getting worse. I'm scared as a young person who's been living on her own for all of her adult life. This crap terrifies me, but I've been making it! I, along with some of my even younger friends, DO have a fervor for life, but we deal with the hands we're dealt. We are affected by our demographics, our age, race, location, etc. I refuse to believe that there aren't those who're in power that aren't attempting to use that against us.

If you are capable of providing for yourself, i.e. your arms and legs work, and have been dependent on public subsidy for a long duration you should feel ashamed.

To feel ashamed is natural; and any lack of shame on the matter shows that you are taking the work of others for granted. At that point it's not charity, it is enabling a very dangerous lack of independence. That is the conservative mindset.

The leftist progressive mindset... well I let the left's hero George Bernard Shaw tell you how the left feels:


Make no mistake, eventually the welfare abuse will be dealt with and when that happens it will be the progressive left in the Republican party that opens the camps while Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi act like brats about it and off camera high five the Boehners and McCains. That is the end game if you understand Fabian Socialist philosophy.

Heat the world so that you may reshape it closer to you hearts desire and always strike when the iron is red hot. In order to achieve that you must sow dependency and turn the populace against itself. Sow division among the people; antagonize them with race, wealth, sex, and politics. Divide them, heat them up; at when the time is right, hit them with a hot iron. Do it rights and the people will beg for the strike against them.

The top 1% are the biggest welfare cases on the planet through subsides, tax fraud, tax breaks and bail-outs. The poor probably receive 1/1000th what the rich and their corporations/banks do but somehow the anger gets directed at the poor. Imagine if TARP went to the people instead of the banks and the gov actually did their job, I bet there would be universal health care, less people on assistance and more prosperity for everyone not just the well off. The 1% are the biggest welfare cases on the planet and how many lobbyists are there for the poor?

Her post makes an interesting point, the problem is, I was starving before I applied for food stamps. So was my sister. I was starving for a few months before finally giving in and applying.

You have to qualify for them, it isn't like anyone can get them. I only got $17 a month at first.

My only problem with them and other services is that I would like to see it be easier to get off of them, There seems to be a "punishment phase" for someone who increases their income, where it can actually be harmful to do so.

originally posted by: Slickinfinity
The top 1% are the biggest welfare cases on the planet through subsides, tax fraud, tax breaks and bail-outs.

I believe this is a true statement. Some companies even get paid taxes by the government.

a reply to: terriblyvexed

however...

if there is dependence, is it the fault of the government for providing? is it the fault of the dependent for depending?

or is it possibly no-one's fault, (the fault of fluctuations in the demand /supply for labor)

a reply to: neo96

TL;DR

That about sums up the Republican view on Americans who don't earn 6 digits a year.

I like how the Republicans (including this site) bray on and on about how it's the Democrats who want to destroy this country, but the conservative stance seems to be, can't afford to eat: starve, can't afford a Doctor:die in the streets. Doesn't sound too first world to me

a reply to: mymymy

You left out the punchline... starve, die in the streets, and life is sacred lol.

a reply to: mymymy

I like how the Republicans (including this site) bray on and on about how it's the Democrats who want to destroy this country, but the conservative stance seems to be, can't afford to eat: starve, can't afford a Doctor:die in the streets. Doesn't sound too first world to me

I agree with you completely in that sentiment on it being silly to cite one side while seemingly implying the other is some answer to the problem. The political class formed by people who have been actively in their current offices 20, 30 and even 40 years now are what form the nexus of the corruption. They come in both flavors, I'd say.

Careful on that whole Republican/Conservative thing for mixing the two though. They were once interchangeable, but the Republican Party is a far cry from Conservative today by any objective standards of the past. They're just corrupt, like the rest.

originally posted by: ColCurious
a reply to: benrl

Proper work ethics are an educational issue, and while an abusable welfare system certainly isn't helping matters, in the end it comes down to healthy cultural upbringing.

We have one of the best social systems in the world here, so if the system alone was key in conditioning the behaviour of people, we'd have to be a nation of slackers.

ETA:
I've been told before that teutonic diligence and thrift are "typical fascist attitudes" so don't even bother, I don't care.
The foreigners I met who understood this at once were soldiers though... riddle me this, ATS!!

I certainly do, and I was stationed in Germany. Efficiency was something I would end up taking for granted over there. And since I spent a lot of off time hanging out off base, I got to know many Germans well, and my mind was blown by the sheer size and scope of the German system. Like, the amount of mandatory PAID vacation every worker gets every year, regardless of job. The safety net. Ect. And while it really isn't something I'd want to copy in the states, I can honestly say, they certainly were not a country of slackers. While there were some parts there, especially in what used to be East Germany as well as parts of Berlin and Frankfurt that were really sketchy and constituted as ghetto, you never had the urban wasteland marvels we had back home like Oakland, South Central L.A., El Paso, Buffalo, South Bronx, Detroit, Chicago, ect. So while I personally am not in favor of a similar system over here, I also know it does not create a society of complete wasteoids living off welfare and breeding like rats. In fact, the Germans have one of the lowest birth rates in Europe.

Remember, Germany was not only the only country in the Eurozone not directly or very negatively affected by the Eurozone crisis, but they were pretty much the majority of the muscle holding up the Euro itself, and keeping the whole union from chaos. The only other countries with strong enough economies to bolster it were France and the UK, and the UK isn't even in the Eurozone. Germany is of the of the biggest financial, scientific, industrial, and technological powers on the planet. Yet they have a very big social welfare system. So something else is the problem here.
I think culture plays a bigger role, personally.

a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

Everything you stated was exactly right. Thank you.

originally posted by: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
So something else is the problem here. I think culture plays a bigger role, personally.

And again the person who gets it is a soldier... I really wonder why.
All we came up with in our drunk minds was "discipline", which would be too stupid simple.

*And I seriously doubt that the military are the only people in the US that are taught proper discipline?

a reply to: ColCurious

It's actually the fact that military personnel travel more overseas and see first hand what life is like in other countries. It is true that Americans rarely travel beyond their own borders. This really isn't due a dislike of travel so much as it is the size of the U.S. When I was stationed in Bitburg, i was within a 4 hour driving radius of 4 different countries, each with their own different native tongues. France, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxumbourg. By contrast, I lived in the North-Central part of my home state, California. The nearest foreign border was at the other end of my state, the Mexican border, a good 10-12 hour drive depending on traffic and roads. The next closest foreign border was Canada, about a 24 hour drive north. A 4 hour drive East in California from me would simply take me into the next state, Nevada. Due to the size of the country, there is little need to go overseas, and more benefit of staying home. Much cheaper at home, less hassle dealing with visas and customs, generally safer at home. Can visit magnificent mountain ranges, Arctic wilderness, deserts, rainforests, Mediterranean climate, tropical beaches, distant farming communities, all without ever owning a passport. By contrast, in the course of a very ordinary, typical European life, you will have likely crossed at least a few borders, and likely speak at least one other language proficiently.

Another reason Americans do not leave the U.S. a lot is because we get very little vacation time. Employers do not have to give us vacation at all. And most employers, you only get 3 weeks vacation if you are very lucky and have been with the company a long time. Most jobs you get not vacation until your first year is up, and even then,m it's a hit and miss on it being paid. So what little vacation we do get, is often spent visiting family, who often live across the country.

The military, as well as civilian government and private contract jobs, off the only real feasible opportunity for real foreign travel, something usually reserved for rich kids.

Like, if you know a kid at school whose family flies to anywhere in Europe for summer vacation, that family has money, and lots of it.

I agree people can fall on hard times. I also agree 4 people with that much wealth should not be profiting as much as they do. Why do people even shop at Walmart? Why are they supporting the very people that do the things they do? Vote with your money. It works. I am sure that they turn in the food stamps in to the government to get their cash. Don't feed the greedy fat cats. Vote with your money..a reply to: theantediluvian

a reply to: pleasethink

What people don't realize now is the government is going to get your tax returns for all that free medical work you had and didn't pay your co pay. Lots of people going to be suprised that they have to pay in next year