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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMinnesota Republican Says People Who Use Food Stamps Are Wild Animals
While recording a message to the people of Minnesota, District 11A Rep. Mary Franson sat in her chair, and speaking with a Sarah Palinesque voice, delivered some good news about the Minnesota budget and spun it to make it sound as if Republicans were solely responsible for it. But then she said some things that should end her career as a public servant. Franson compared people who rely on food stamps to wild animals. And she thought it was funny.
Last week, we worked on some welfare reform bills. And here, its kind of ironic, Ill read you this little funny clip that we got from a friend. It says, Isnt it ironic that the food stamp program, part of the Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of food stamps ever. Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to please not feed the animals, because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves. Our reform bills are meant to bring people up out of the clutches of poverty. We want to provide a safety net, no longer a safety hammock. In one of the bills Representative Kurt Daudt authored would reduce the amount of time that you could stay on welfare from five years to three years. In three years I believe that we can get Minnesotas poorest of the poor back up on their feet and moving more toward a prosperous future.
For years, Republicans have consistently and ferociously attacked the poor, who through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs and have been unable to find new ones because of the economic collapse caused by GOP policies in 2008. This lack of jobs means lack of money, which means lack of food. That means, without food stamps, poverty stricken people would be left to starve to death. I dont know what they put in the water in Minnesota, but Franson isnt the first heartless politician in the state to say evil things about poor people on food stamps. Not too long ago, Republican Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann came under fire for saying that people who are unemployed should starve. People dont want to have to rely on food stamps and usually stop using them when their financial situation improves. But in order for the financial situation of the poor to improve, narrow minded Republicans like Franson need to get off their asses and start focusing on actually doing things that help the poor instead of pushing policies that only help the wealthy, who can actually afford to buy their own food to stuff themselves with. Stupidly comparing the poor to wild animals does nothing to solve the problem. Such rhetoric only reveals how hateful and divisive Republicans are.http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/03/03/minnesota-republican-says-people-who-use-food-stamps-are-wild-animals/
qb
(5,924 posts)whistler162
(11,155 posts)Viking12
(6,012 posts)The Park Service is part of the Dept of Interior, not Ag.
Mendocino
(7,431 posts)Didn't read far down enough, sorry.
You are right, typical RW reaction.
jaded_old_cynic
(190 posts)Boy I never realized that there were so many of us "Wild Animals" out there. That woman is despicable. I have been on food stamps for a year now and am up for a review. I don't want to be on them, but with the current economic climate I have no other options available to me.
Since I live in Florida things are pretty tough here economically for almost everyone. My home is in foreclosure, I have been searching for work for ages. (I have a degree in paralegal studies, which I earned after I lost my husband to cancer.) Even though I obtained that degree by graduating college with a 4.0, (Something I wasn't aware wild animals were capable of) I still can't seem to find work. I also know that if I get turned down on my review, I don't eat.
People like this woman will never understand hardship until it lands in their own lap. Even then it seems they are devoid of compassion for anyone else in a similar situation. I hate saying this but sometimes I really wish I had the resources to leave this country. It doesn't seem to resemble at all the nation I grew up in. The rightward trend that this country has been moving in for the last 30 years has done incalculable damage to this nation.
Rant off.
Thank you DU for letting me vent.
Gruntled Old Man
(127 posts)Mendocino
(7,431 posts)is in the Department of the Interior, not Agriculture. A minor point but don't these people ever check facts.