Submitted by David Anderson.
“More than 90 percent of Americans agree that able-bodied adults who receive means-tested government benefits should be required to work or prepare for work in exchange for those benefits.”
The other 10 percent live in California and Pierce County.
Solomon – purported to be the wisest guy who ever lived, and thus he should know – said “people who work hard sleep well, whether they eat little or much.”
But news out of California – whose only redeeming quality is Disneyland – on this Labor Day weekend of all things, has found a way to exempt more than 800,000 food stamp recipients from having to work in order to eat.
“Current law requires non-elderly, able-bodied adults without dependent children to work or participate in work-related activities, such as education and job training programs, for at least 20 hours per week in exchange for food stamp benefits.”
“Suitcase and a dream” – performed by “Red Car Newsboys” in Disney’s “California Adventure” – showcases the work-slash-dream ethic that defined Walt Disney.
Not anymore.
Not to be outdone, the Pierce County Council had – as in ‘had’ – a wonderful, let alone proven, opportunity to put the homeless to work – as in ‘work’.
“A fair wage for an honest day’s labor sure beats uncertainty and indignity,” wrote the Tacoma News Tribune editorial board in rightly questioning how the council could sleep at night given members’ rejection of what has proved successful elsewhere in this country as a strategy to address homelessness — “a way to clean up local streets while offering work, purpose, employment skills and counseling, a bed and a paycheck to some of the area’s down and out.”
The dignity of work – let alone a better night’s sleep having earned a clearer conscience for having done what one could during the day – is the same phraseology, and principle, referenced by Taylor Mayol on this Labor Day, writing in “The Daily Dose.”
“Twelve times a year, the president of the country chooses a project — picking up trash, painting houses, caring for the elderly — and then, on the last Saturday of the month, remarkably, every able-bodied citizen pitches in. This is not just goodwill; this is compulsion. Fines and ostracism await those who do not participate.”
“A day of forced labor? It’s just what America needs,” is the headline of his article.
You don’t work, you don’t eat – let alone sleep, or sleep well anyway – shouldn’t be a dream.
Sawing logs should be a day-time activity, not just at night.
Your reference to “…the president of the country…” left me scratching my head. I’m certainly not aware of every program our president has started, but still….
Many (most?) of your readers aren’t acquanted with Taylor Mayol, so why not insert the word “Uganda” in your description of what seems to be working there. “Taylor Mayol, Ugandan president,” would clarify the situation.
Thanks.
Taylor Mayol is writing for “The Daily Dose.”
Taylor Mayol is not the President of Uganda.
Neither is Paul Kagame who is the President of Rwanda.
Paul Kagame and Rwanda are the president and country, respectively, of whom and which Taylor Mayol is writing.
All of which is made clear by means of the hyperlink for Taylor Mayol supplied in my article.
Standard practice.
I should never press “send” before 10:00 a.m., and certainly not before breakfast.
Still, I think you would have done your readers a kindness by inserting which president of which country you’re quoting third-hand.
I appreciate hyperlinks for the extra depth and details they may provide a story, but I think one should be able to access the essential elements of a story without clicking on hyperlinks. And the country you were referring to was essential, imho. If you had included it directly, rather than through a hyperlink, I might have remembered it correctly for ten minutes, even at 8 a.m. (2 syllables out of 3 — not too bad, and the countries rhyme! Not too shabby, for my ADDled brain).
As for the Rwandan (?) work requirement, I have my doubts that requiring the homeless — and all able-bodied citizens — to donate one day a month to a public works project would work in the U.S., where many of our currently employed are already working 2 or 3 jobs to make ends meet.
The Pierce County Council (also hyperlinked in my article) was rightly chastised by the editorial board of the Tacoma News Tribune (also hyperlinked in my article) for rejecting a quite successful program which has caught national attention for in fact putting the homeless to work – hiring them – to, among other things, pick up litter, after which the homeless receive all manner of benefits many of which were listed – in the article without hyperlinks – to show that this quite obvious central point of what I wrote actually works, speaking of work.
To read (hyperlinked) of some of the reasons why the PC Council refused this proven program is to rightly question how they can sleep at night.