I don't think you heard me natural

Well natural girl - we have some things in common - my heart goes out to you for the fact that you have an autistic child - i have an autistic step child. My husband can't leave anything to him because the government will take it. Because he is allowed only the bare minimum. I guess it's his punishment for the mistake of being born autistic.

I wonder if you can see the problems with the way our medical system and indeed our entire capitalistic system is set up... and what if there were not such a stigma against the government helping you out as it is and what if it were a much more generous and welcoming kind of system - like a real community instead of a minimal bureaucratic system that dehumanizes you? What if we all were most happy to pay into a system that actually helped people with big problems like this instead of humiliating them and forcing them to be treated like second class citizens.

When I was 18 years old - I made a mistake - I was foolish - I had 2 babies with a man who was not a good person. He abandoned us. I had to raise my children alone. I am not a good business person - not an entrepreneur as people are so proud to label themselves - just a working class woman and an artist - I raised those kids by working as a house cleaner and a gardener - I worked very very hard. I was on welfare once for about 3 months - but I was treated so badly and in such a humiliating manner that I went off it so my children would not be subjected to that kind of treatment - that meant that I had to work full time and my children had to be without me a lot more than they should have been. I was in a constant state of anxiety over finances. We didn't have medical insurance and there was no one to help us out. We made it through though and my children are decent and contributing adults. Both are very good and kind human beings. But it was very very hard and as wonderful as my kids are I can see the scars and it breaks my heart.

Here's what would have helped me out a whole lot - if we lived in a society that did not make blanket assumptions that when people are in need it is because they are bad or lazy and they deserve whatever they get. If we were able to see that it benefits us all if we are all doing well not just some. If we lived in a world without great wealth or great poverty. If we were all equal - men and women - people of all races- various income levels other than rich or poor - if everyone had decent and healthy housing and food and environment.

It would have helped me to be able to work only part time and to be able to earn a living wage (not a minimum wage) for that labor and to be supplemented for the rest of the time that I spent with my children when they got home from school - It would also have been great to be provided some way to get some training in my chosen field so I could eventually increase my own earning ability. But the reality was that if on welfare you get the bare minimum and you are treated like dirt. Using food stamps in a grocery store gets you nothing but dirty looks and abuse. So who needs that?

When wealthy and middle class people make mistakes early in life they have family and connections to help them out - but for those with out those kinds of resources there is only one way to turn and that is to hard hard labor and you have to leave your children to fend for themselves while you are working to make ends meet.

I was in favor of INCREASING the amount of benefits people coud recieve when they are in need but what happened during the Clinton era was that welfare was gutted and it is basically non existent now. Even back in the 70's it was not even possible to live on Welfare alone and survive - it was the bare minimum then and it is way less than that now. Of course it didn't work - that's because it was too little and too late to work. And our whole society is and was not just uncompassionate, but already spoiled and dumbed down not to mention so racist and class inspired. Is it WORKING for people to be left with nothing but 3 minimum wage jobs and no child care and slum to live in?

I think it would be better to live in a society where we cared about each other and were willing to help each other OUT of a bad situation with an attitude of love and compassion instead of judgment and ridicule. How can you judge someone without even knowing their life's circumstances? But that's what we do in America. This has to do with peoples beliefs and attitudes which have been molded over the years very subtly and effectively by the media. The result is what you see now including the ethnic cleansing and genocide that is occurring in New Orleans as we speak.

It's every man for himself and if you give something at all you are a big hero and if you need something you are less than human because you didn't pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - well tell that to your autistic child.

My stepson is now an adult and he has to work for less than minimum wage at a boring job that is beneath him and bores him to tears for hours every week because he is someone in need. What about human dignity?

If we allow every single thing to be privatized - imagine what it will be like? The market should rule? ot a good idea.