I have been trying to stay informed about the proposals in Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed budget and to figure out the thinking behind the policies reflected in it. I have become very concerned about this when it comes to the issue of “welfare reform” and people I have come to know who will be directly affected.
I don’t know so for a fact, but I think the following assumptions have to be in place in order for such welfare reform policy initiatives to appear credible:
— Most “welfare recipients” can and should work.
— A large number of recipients are lazy and scam the system.
— These abusers force us taxpayers to carry more than our fair share.
— Punishment will fix the issue of alcohol and drug addiction.
— Social welfare agencies are too generous and are not run efficiently.
None of the above statements is accurate from what I have experienced — not one. If they were, I’d be a big supporter of these proposals and politically with the far right. And as to how much taxpayer “burden” is fair, first we must answer the question of what kind of society we want.
Do we mean it when we say we want good roads and safe bridges? Are we ready to invest in education and workforce training so we can compete and have professional, good paying jobs? Do we want our health policies created by politicians or by medical professionals? Is health care a right or a profit opportunity for insurance companies and lobbyists? How much do we want to spend on correctional facilities?
To my eye, the positions around welfare reform in the governor’s budget start with ideology and rest on predetermined premises illustrated by anecdote.
We all know stories of hard-working citizens citing misuse of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit cards, abuse they personally witness in grocery stores. It is sadly fascinating to me how much stock is given to these anecdotes, how like an urban legend they are quickly believed and spread as gospel.
Do such things happen? Of course! Are these incidences representative of thousands of people? Hell, no!
And examples from life that are closely related in content are interpreted in wildly different ways according to where they take place. Imagine a brave American who went overseas to fight terrorists on foreign soil and somehow ended up without a passport or other legal means of identity. We’d want him taken seriously by the foreign government and offered support. So why do some of us want to deny such support to legal asylum seekers?
Maine’s governor and many other politicians are full of business citations when it comes to policy recommendations. In my experience, one of the necessary strategies for growth and support of a successful business is reinvestment. CEOs and their boards take risks and borrow money to invest in their businesses. Any politician who professes business sense while supporting policies that deny support for people in need makes a mockery of that self-aggrandizing comparison.
Using our collective resources only to root out corruption and punish evil doers instead of trying to figure out how prevention and treatment of addiction disorders can help is not investing. Focusing on education by attacking teachers’ unions and proposing to use more tax dollars to support private schools instead of working to make quality education and vocational retraining available to people lacking transportation and child care is not investing. Threatening parents with time-limited benefits that will in fact run out, parents who are trying to care for permanently disabled children, is beyond not investing — it’s vile.
There is no question that we face serious challenges. Fighting each other politically on top of a field made of the poorest and sickest among us is a strategy of failure, and it is resulting in increasingly loud and strident voices calling attention only to their own positions and interests. We need to be smart, and we need to find a way to work together. We in Maine have plenty of sage advice to use together, if we have the will to do that.
We will not succeed by attacking poor people and trying to punish them. Yes, we should hold people to fair expectations about responsibility and behavior, but let’s offer paths to self- improvement.
Giving disproportionate tax breaks to the few who are wealthy at the expense of not investing in people struggling in poverty is not the path to shared prosperity. Expecting that taxpayers will continue to make financial donations to repair the holes in the safety net caused by those who are supposed to be tending to it — and then not allowing them a tax deduction — is an abuse of power.
Dennis Marble is executive director of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter.