Conservative Indignation For A False Truth

You know I see, and occasionally get, e-mails from my friends and family on the Right with one constant overriding theme. It boils down to this, an intense anger that those who work, are subsidising those who don't, won't, or cannot. I also find it amusing that these people scream the loudest when a Democrat occupies the White House, especially a black one. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Welfare, Unemployment Insurance, and Disabilities are not distinguished. They are for a group of people who play the system, don't want to work, won't work, don't deserve help, or otherwise should be left to their own demise according to the choices they have made in life. They have an "individual responsibility" to take care of themselves, without picking the pocket of people who work hard and pay their taxes.

Are there abuses in this system? yes. Is it as widespread as the Right would have you believe? maybe.  The question I raise is where is this same rabid indignation when the Pentagon pays $300 for a wrench? Or when Big Oil makes 25+ Billion dollars over a 3 month period, and still gets government subsidies? Or billions are wasted on defense contracts for weapons systems that don't work?  Massive tax cuts are sustained for the rich, while the middle class is dying. These abuses are just as wide spread, just as common, and just as substantially wasteful. The money for all these things comes from the same U.S. Treasury. So why are individuals in need singled out for the harshest treatment? and where is all this righteous indignation when a Republican is in the White House? These abuses are long standing, and know no political allegiance. Does that make them right? Of course not, but this is the system our government, both Democrats and Republicans, have created. You can't fight the rich, or the corporations, or the Military Industrial Complex, but the individual is ripe for consternation.

I'll bet you the majority of these screamers on the Right are people who are well off, and have forgotten what it's like to struggle to make ends meet, or never had that problem in their own individual life experience. They worked hard to be where they are, and don't want others threatening their prosperity. How is the waste of billions in defense contracts less offensive than the unemployed, disabled, or elderly that game the system? Surely not all of these people are frauds? At least some of these people are being helped, why is demonizing these people in need, such an attractive target? Think back to your own individual experience? Did someone help you at one point in your life to get you started? A parent, a friend, a relative? Did you come from the middle class, or upper middle class? If so, should those who did not enjoy the same advantages you had suffer because they were born poor, or a minority, or just into a cycle of poverty that they had no control over?

These people who incite such anger, do they fit a specific stereotype? Did you come to these preconceived notions on your own, or were you raised and taught these things? What is so special about your situation that gives you permission to judge these people? Now this really gets conservatives pissed because their opinions have been burned into their heads as facts. I see it every day, just look around for yourself, all driven by individual prejudice, stereotypes, and a notion of do they look or act a certain way? How do I know all this? Because I was raised just like this, with all the stereotypes, prejudice, and preconceived notions the Right cries about everyday. Even today I struggle sometimes with these same prejudices, but at least I recognize it, and am working to overcome it. I don't want praise for that, I want people who were raised like me to understand nobody knows any one persons individual experience, and nobody has the right to judge anybody else unless they have walked a mile in their shoes. Whatever your experience, you can't justify hate and bigotry no matter what you think, what you were taught, or what you believe. There is no passage in the Bible to protect it, no article in the Constitution to legitimize it, no way to make your OPINIONS the TRUTH.