Social Safety Net

I have nothing to base this on other than my belief in the basic goodness of human nature, but I do believe that most people are, at heart, at least somewhat compassionate. Most of us don't want people starving, freezing, homeless, etc., and are willing to provide some sort of social safety net to help those in need. Where the problems arise, however, is in determining how big the mesh of that net should be.

For example, I have no problem with the government facilitating distribution of surplus peanut butter, cheese, bologna, bread, and so forth to keep people from starving, or even going hungry. I do, however, have a problem with using my tax dollars for food stamps (or whatever the current equivalent is) that allow people to buy just about anything in the grocery store.

Similarly, I don't object to a little assistance that helps people in need pay their heating bills during extreme cold weather. However, this story really raised my hackles.

The Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council, which distributes the federal money, had its share of funding for the program cut by 44 percent this year.

Jimmie Samuel, executive director of the agency, said the need for assistance in Bibb County has spiked, while the available funds to fill those needs have been slashed.

“We’re close to being out of money,” Samuel said. “We’re going to assess to see what we can do, to see if we can do any more.”

That’s left people such as Raymeica Kelley frustrated. Kelley said she, her mother and her sister arrived at the church about 3 a.m. Wednesday, only to get turned away.

“We were already too late,” she said. “It’s like impossible (to get a ticket). It gets in the way of people who need it. ... If we’re there at 3 a.m. and it’s already too late, what time are you supposed to go?”

Kelley said she was unemployed for a year before recently landing a job. But her bills have stacked up while she was unemployed, and she needs the assistance.

The story was accompanied by the picture below, captioned as follows.

"Showing her Georgia Power bills in the one warm room of her home, Raymeica Kelly explains how her mother, sister and herself were turned away from the Energy Assistance Program on Wednesday morning after standing in line for four hours. All three complained that the system the Macon-Bibb County Economic Opportunity Council uses to give out the assistance needs improving."

I might have had some sympathy for Kelly if the picture hadn't shown her standing in front of a big screen HD TV and an X-box game system. And note the look of indignation on her face. It's so unfair that the gummint doesn't pay her heating bills.

This has got to be the only country in the world where the poor are obese, have cable, HD TVs, cell phones, don't work, don't pay taxes, and still find something to complain about.

I wonder how many of them vote for the democraps...

(H/T to BMEWS for the link to the original story.)