Why, How Dare You, Sir, Be Poor!

One of my Facebook friends recently “liked” something called “if you can afford alcohol and cigerattes (sic) then you don't need Foodstamps (sic).” I thought I would chime in with my Lefty-Liberal perspective.

First of all, nobody is buying alcohol and cigarettes with food stamps or trading their food stamps for cash. In fact, now, in the age of ID-dependent debit cards, food stamps literally do not exist anymore. So there's that.

But I really think it is deeply wrong for any of us to judge (well, let's face it, punish) poor addicts more harshly than we (well, let's face it) “treat” rich addicts – especially when we are making no effort whatsoever to help poor addicts, except to shame and jail them, of course. And putting them in jail, even for a short time, only reinforces their poverty – because nobody wants to hire an ex-con. Who, by the way, still has an addiction.

I used to live in Hollywood, then one of the nastiest neighborhoods in the country. I was surrounded by gang bangers, hookers, drug dealers and their customers, homeless people, crazies and tourists – a lot of Desperate People. I met them all and got to know many. But here is the one thing that completely redefined my Lefty-Liberalism:

I always felt safer at the beginning of the month than I did at the end of the month.

Ya know why? Because all the Desperate People got their government checks at the beginning of the month. They all had money for all of their Desperate Needs: food, shelter, drugs, alcohol, cigarettes. By the end of the month, though, the money was gone but the Desperate Needs remained. Go figure: down-and-out addicts aren't good money managers.

Allow me to talk about someone very near and dear to me. My, how far he has come in the last few years! Most of that is to his credit, but by no means all of it. He had a mother that was physically, mentally and economically able to get on an airplane and force him into rehab. He had health insurance that paid for that rehab. He had a sister and a mother that could afford to house him and feed him afterwards while he adjusted to sobriety and looked for a job.

A poor addict has none of that. If my loved one and his family had been poor, he would probably now be dead or in prison. At the very least, he'd still be drinking, using and smoking – and on government assistance. I would be so thankful that he is still alive that I would not quibble about my tax dollars.

The thing with an addiction is that nobody, rich or poor, can “afford” it. So, why make those addicts with the very least pay the very most?

From my experience, it's not just morally wrong, it's expensive and wasteful and dangerous and stupid.