
An
open letter to the President of the United
States
April 19, 2011
Dear Barry
I
know you and your wife the ‘gardener in
Chief’ are busy folks so I won’t take up
much of your time today. She’s got her
garden to weed…good thing too, we’re all
going to be living on carrots and turnip
greens soon…and you have all you can do
campaigning all over the country in MY jet
and on MY dollar. Your latest job, insulting
and attempting to humiliate good men like
Paul Ryan probably takes some planning and
teleprompter time so I’ll try not to keep
you. I know you’ll be pleased to learn that
I have solved the budget problem and wanted
you to have your solution ASAP.
At my advanced age, I actually know more
than a few folks who live on their Social
Security benefits. I also know these folks
have paid into the Social Security fund
their entire lives in order that they might
have a little (and it generally IS little)
income for their golden years. At my
advanced age, I actually AM one of those
folks who look forward to enjoying my little
Social Security savings account in a couple
of years. So the news is getting irksome to
me.
I’ve been watching and reading about your
plans and the plans of Congress to begin now
to chip away at Social Security and Medicare
in order to save our children from future
debt. Saving our children from debt is a
good thing and I’m sure we all enjoy the
Congressional concerns, but why on earth do
you imagine we need to cut Social Security
or any other benefit to elderly Americans
when it’s completely unnecessary??
Allow me to suggest the following:
I
live in a small town in rural Mississippi.
The population here is dwindling and we are
slowly dying for reasons you needn’t be
bothered with today – suffice to say, we’ve
shot ourselves in the foot multiple times
and are slowly bleeding to death. The
important thing about this one tiny town is,
like most other towns, we have among us
people who live in Federally subsidized HUD
housing.
We have more than a few citizens here who
absolutely deserve and who have probably
even earned the right to enjoy the benefits
of subsidized rent. There are elderly men
and women living on the aforementioned
Social Security checks as well as single
mothers trying to make ends meet on the wages one gets here
in the south. Knowing this makes me proud
that we have not one, but TWO housing
projects here in town. (Interestingly, one
was built on the north side of town and one
was built on the south side of town. Some
day when I have an extra hour or so, I’m
going to inquire about why that was done,
but my first guess would be it was done for
some bizarre racial reason.)
A
few years ago a friend of mine was appointed
to sit on the local Housing Authority Board,
which administers our housing projects. He
immediately came face to face with chaos.
It seems that grandmothers are, indeed,
living in the projects for very good reasons.
Shockingly, in grandma’s house you will
probably also find a daughter or two, their
children, and the latest batch of children
which are being born to high-school aged
girls. In most cases, the inhabitants
other than the matriarch are under the age
of fifty. In other words, a very good and
helpful Federal program is being pillaged by
people who have not earned the benefits they
enjoy.
A
casual drive through the projects this time
of year will treat the observer to a
bountiful crop of young men sitting on lawn
chairs and watching the world go by as if
they hadn’t the first worry to wrinkle their
brows. I
don’t know where the women are, but I
suspect they can be found at the food stamp
office whence the food to feed the
multi-generational apartment dwellers comes.
My friend, seeing the need to improve the
system presented a plan to the Housing
Authority Board. First, a census of the
projects would have to be completed. Then,
each person living under a subsidized roof,
would have to either qualify for the program
or find a new place to wax their Escalades.
This seemed to me to be a reasonable way to
proceed and I applauded his suggestions.
The other members of the Board, however, did
not agree. My friend’s plan created quite a
stir all over town. To my total amazement I
was often told that “These people are to be
pitied! Somebody needs to take care of them
because they can’t make it without help.”
HOLEY GUACAMOLE, Barry! Talk about racism!
Anyway, because I know you are half-black
and that you, like me, stand opposed to
racial bias, I thought you might like to
level the playing field here in Aberdeen,
Mississippi. Come on down at your earliest
convenience and visit the projects. Explain
to the inhabitants therein that they are
being subjugated and misused by the evil
oppressors and encourage them to break the
bands that bind them.
The result of such a visit would, of course,
be a mass exodus from the projects. Those
young mothers and the young men in lawn
chairs would be out pounding the pavement
seeking work and, while your jobless numbers
might spike for a while, perhaps these newly
emancipated people would become infected
with that good old American entrepreneurial
spirit and create a few jobs of their own!
(Preferably jobs which did not involve
drugs, of course)
To my original point, Barry, I just suspect
that our projects are not the only public
housing areas which are being abused. I
further suspect that a serious effort to
eliminate waste in HUD programs which exist
all over the nation would amass a tidy sum –
perhaps billions upon billions – in short
order.
I
do have some suggestions about food stamps
and Medicaid too, but I’ll save that for my
next letter. Meanwhile, Barry please don’t
feel the need to insult me in your next
speech. I’m just trying to do my part here.
Besides, the fact that you are giving
speeches behind a podium bearing the seal of
the President of the United States is
insulting enough.
Your pal,
Viki
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