Christmas 2021

Unchosen pumpkins spilling like
Hopeful orphans who haven't been told
That it's November 1st. Don't they know?
Their orange cheeks still glow,
Noses high,
Unblemished rinds like wide, waiting eyes.
But it's time to move on. 
The people walk by 
Legless turkeys can't hold up their heads,
Pressed into boxes on the back of a  bed.
They travel along, cold wind on their flesh.
Suffer in life, suffer in death.
Uneaten turkey, we don't remember.
We've got work to do! 
It's the end of November!
Unchosen tree propped up all alone
In an empty lot as the cars come and go. 
It's December 26th, don't you know?
"Was my foliage too thin? Was I slightly askew?
We're my branches too long? Too many? Too few?
Maybe I was too far back in the queue.
They would rather a fake one, I heard them all grouse. 
They are always perfect
And don't leave brown needles all over the house."
Left over champagne, your bubbles all gone. 
Dumped down the drain. 
Now the year can move on. 

Dear Fellow Progressives

 When I have a job without paid sick leave, I go to work sick. When I have a job with paid sick leave, I do not go to work sick, but I also take a few “mental health days”. I don’t go hunting, but I do go to the beach. Chances are I am not alone.

The answer to the question of whether many people suffer in our economy without government assistance or protection is “yes”. The answer to the question of whether people take advantage of said system is also “yes”. The question society should be asking is: which is worse?

While suspicious activities perpetrated by a rich wall street executive or a hedge fund manager would not escape scrutiny, left leaning politicians appear incapable of even considering the notion that people who benefit from government intervention exploit the system.  The left’s narrative is that poor people are all hardworking, honest, and pure. They will only take paid sick leave if they really must. They will only take food stamps if they desperately need it. They will only buy recreational drugs if they earned the money.  Everyone is just like their unassailable single mom who worked three jobs but still struggled financially.

The right, on the other hand, sees corruption everywhere, except maybe among wall street executives and hedge fund managers. They call it like they see it. It is common sense! Humans, mostly poor ones, are innately shifty. They are selfish, insatiable opportunists. Give them something, and they will just take more, unlike their parents who worked hard to get ahead, never took a government “hand-out” and subsequently deserved their inevitable success.

The truth is that these narratives are both fantasies and until politicians stop embracing this false dichotomy of human nature and experience, we cannot have rational policy discussions.

The reaction to Joe Manchin’s statement regarding people spending monetary benefits on drugs or using sick leave to go hunting is a case in point. The audacity!  The shame! Joe Manchin clearly despises his own constituents. He thinks poor people deserve to be poor. In the meantime, the party of “common sense” rolls its collective eyes.  They cheer Joe Manchin for stating the obvious.

I suggest that if the left wants to persuade skeptical people that a social safety net is necessary in a civil society, they must start by admitting that humans will take advantage of it. They must recognize that the doubters are not just talking about flagrant fraud and corruption schemes, like the ones that make headlines. They are referring to the wide array of minor misappropriation going on under the radar: the guy who is sharing half his food stamps with his neighbor, the parent that bought a pair of earrings with the child tax care credit, and those who could work, but choose not to, because they can get benefits instead.

If they start with that confession, they can then move on to the important questions: what is the cost of not having a social safety net? How do these programs benefit society as a whole? How can the system be made more efficient?

Vulnerable people certainly need to be defended in a society that works against them, but not by turning them into gutless lambs. They should be fully respected as mature adults with agency: agency that will occasionally take them to the beach on a day they should really be working.