Yo! Republicans!

This post was shared across the state. It was written by a woman in Spanaway, WA.

Yo! Republicans! Yes, you, in the party I abandoned 15 years ago.

Four years ago, my former brother in law, an Army Reservist, passed away suddenly at age 54 from a brain aneurism followed by a massive stroke. His son was 15 at the time. My sister was faced with a sudden loss of child support at a time when boys are fairly expensive. Thank heavens for Social Security! They continued to make payments to help her support her son and keep her home until he could finish school, like his father would have done if he had survived.

Now I am faced with a former spouse who has significant health problems at age 50. He is unable to work. I assisted him in applying for Social Security disability so that he can have a bare minimum of support and have a small apartment in which to live, instead of being on the street.

And I hear the chants of the Republicans to get rid of Social Security. These are obviously healthy people who have had the good fortune not to have a traumatic health failure or injury disaster in their lives. Congratulations. You are living blind to those millions of people around you whose existence depends on Social Security.
If you are advocating the end of Social Security, you honestly are saying millions of American people should starve, Americans who are sick, Americans who have worked in modest paying jobs and now reached retirement. Yes, throw them on the street without food, healthcare and shelter. Shame on them for growing old, feeble, and broke. Shame on them for being incapable of holding a job due to injury and heath issues. Kick them aside so you can have a few more dollars of your paycheck to buy another new car or take that trip to Maui.

I know who you are. I am watching you drink your beer in your backyard and bitch about others taking your money while you plan your next vacation. I see you because I am sitting in my backyard nearby, the backyard I will have only a few more months, the backyard I cannot afford to leave because I don’t have enough unemployment compensation to afford the gas to go to the grocery store and still pay my rent. You don’t have a clue who I am. You don’t want to know and I am painfully aware you don’t want to help. It doesn’t matter to you that I used the time I had not just to look for work, but to help raise money from others to build that nice skateboard park where your child likes to play. Yes, I did that while I was on unemployment. I wrote that $275,000, first place winning grant application.

What have you done for others? You want to take away my Social Security, my unemployment? I worked and earned those. My employers and I paid into them to cover these moments when layoffs, age and/or health cuts us to the quick. We can’t go back. America would look like a third world country. I don’t think that’s the America either of us want. Yes, it costs a bit of our paychecks. But it helps millions of people stay off your doorstep begging for help and I’ll defend that everyday!