On "free stuff"

[RoccoRyg]

In their latest attempt to explain their devastating loss this election year and shift the blame onto others, the GOP has a new talking point: "Obama voters just want free stuff." O'Reilly said it, Ryan said it, and now Romney himself claims that Obama won because of the "gifts" he gave to blacks, Hispanics and women. Have they not learned their lesson that insulting voters is a terrible plan to get their votes? Romney's insult of the 47% who depend on government and won't take care of themselves was the beginning of the end of his campaign.

It fits into their worldview of makers and takers, Ayn Rand's "prime movers" vs. "looters and moochers." But these insulting insinuations fail to understand that everyone contributes to the public sector as well as benefiting from it. People contribute to social security and Medicare during their working lives and receive benefits from the system when they retire or become unable to work. That is what the system is designed for, and it works a lot better than leaving laborers to their own devices when we don't know how many of those devices they have.

I've worked and paid taxes since I was fifteen. I even worked when I was legally blind. I've contributed to the system for twelve years and I will gladly take advantage of it when I need to. It's not "free stuff," it's a state-sponsored insurance plan. As for contraception for women, if you spend a little in that area, you can look forward to less unintended pregnancies, less abortions and less welfare recipients. "Spend money to make money" works in government as well as business.

If you really want to stop people from getting "free stuff," how about we cut down on welfare to the military-industrial complex, oil companies and drug corporations who don't need it? Those are the real looters and moochers feeding off the government.

[banned from Kos]

1. Food stamps are "free stuff" for example.

The EBT program costs us $75 billion a year and feeds 1/6 the US population. That is only two per cent of the budget.

We need to admit that there is free stuff and also tell the idiots how cost effective it is. Food and water are basic survival requirements.

[democrattotheend]

4. According to a case I just read for Constitutional Law

When the government had to defend the food stamp law in a suit involving the exclusion of non-related households, they had to articulate a purpose for the law, and one of the purposes they articulated was to help the agricultural industry.

Someone here also pointed out that food stamps make up the majority of business for some grocery stores.

These are the talking points we need to raise when discussing these issues with conservatives or moderates. Cutting food stamps would not just hurt the poor...it would also hurt grocery stores and farmers, an in turn their workers.

[quinnox]

2. this is the image freepers were posting right after the election, racist to the core --

[RoccoRyg]

3. I also saw...

A photoshopped picture of a black woman with a sign saying, "I only got to vote once."

Can't imagine they would superimpose that message on a white person's sign.