I’m Not The Only One

The subject of Florida came up in a recent conversation, during which I complained that Florida requires recipients of food stamp benefits to take a drug test.  The woman with whom I was eating lunch said, “Good, they should do that here {in New Hampshire).  My tax dollars shouldn’t have to pay for someone’s drug habit.”

I couldn’t roll my eyes fast or hard enough at this ridiculous remark.

I replied, “Why should they test me for drug in order to get welfare benefits?  Nobody drug tested me when the state was stealing the money from my paycheck.”  Of course, you don’t have to be employed own property to pay local, state or federal taxes, as I’ve explained in a previous post.  But when most people think of taxpayers, they only include property owners and the employed within that definition.  But the system is set up so that everyone, including the unemployed, people on welfare, those whose incomes are from criminal activity and even illegal aliens are still paying taxes when they pay a bill or buy something.

Which brings me to a more important subject: why did this woman automatically refer to welfare recipients as receiving her tax dollars?  As if she was the only person who pays taxes!  I’ve heard that statement, that a person refers to government revenue as their tax dollars only.  It makes me laugh, because I’ve been around enough toddlers to be familiar with the “it’s mine!” phase, which usually occurs during the infamous terrible twos, a phase in a child’s development in which they realize they are their own person and therefore feel the need to affirm what belongs to them, even claiming ownership on things that are not necessarily theirs.  Unfortunately, for many adults, this is by no means a phase, but a lifelong attitude.

The “mine” phase is so well-known it is even lampooned on children’s shows.

Yes, I am comparing adults to two-year olds.  Especially when they’re whining about other people taking what they believe to be theirs.  Unless you’re a Congressmember, or a high-ranking executive at a Wall Street firm or a defense contractor firm, chances are you will never get back as much money from the government as you were forced to pay into it.  So couldn’t the food stamp applicant simply be attempting to get back some of the money that was originally taken from him, and asking for that money at a time when he truly could benefit from some financial assistance?  People don’t go on welfare because they’re rich.

What’s even worse about this mentality is that few people complain when “their” tax dollars are going to people who don’t really need it, people who are already rich and/or powerful or are wealthy specifically because of government handouts.  With Congressembers being paid $200,000 a year, executives of defense contractors being paid more than the President (war is basically an entitlement program for defense contractors), Wall Street executives getting big fat bonuses while accepting bailout money and immense corporate farms getting subsidies to grow crops that have no real demand in the free market, it’s surprising that people get angrier about personal welfare than they do about corporate welfare and outrageously excessive overcompensation for “public servants”, especially when the latter consists of far more of “their” tax dollars than the former.

So it just annoys the hell out of me when someone takes ownership of money that isn’t even theirs, especially when it’s going to someone who most likely paid more than enough money into the system when they were employed but now needs some help making ends meet and putting food on the table at the moment.  Are you going through the lifelong version of the “it’s mine” phase when it comes to ordinary people asking for their stolen money back when they could use it the most?  Consider rethinking that mentality, because it’s not food stamp benefits, Social Security payments or unemployment checks that will ultimately bankrupt the national treasury and send the United States spiraling into the Third World.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2011 at 9:36 am and is filed under Straight Up Scams, Government Incompetence, The War on Drugs, Civil Rights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.