Susan Senator

Make no mistake, folks. This is the real deal. You want protection of people with disabilities, you gotta vote for Obama. The other party wants to get rid of social programs, to them it is a dirty word. So let me ask you, how do they propose to take care of those who need guaranteed supports, housing, vocational help? If you think that private institutions will do it all, think again. Think back to our history. Before we had social programs like SSI, Medicaid, and Medicare, how were the disabled treated?

That’s right. They were institutionalized. Private organizations, God bless them, can only go so far. If you let the entire population individually decide where all their would-be taxed income goes, you will be left with people only supported on the whims of others. A government for the many, a democracy, a government based on The Enlightenment, the social contract — and that is what the Founding Fathers believed in — a government like ours supports its most vulnerable as a given. A given.

Therefore it is a given that we must have mandated and funded programs to maintain the lives of the vulnerable, to take us through times when people are less inclined to give of their own volition. We need to increase the tax base — tax the 1% at a fairer rate — to pay for the social programs. We are in this together, folks.

Some people are tired of this, the same old answers. Spend money on these programs. But yes, it is a boring, tiresome answer. And there is no other way. Sorry. That’s the hard truth.

Some people ask, “What about all the waste?”  I invite them to look into these programs. Find the waste. Look at the people served. If you find problems, fix them. Cast a light on the waste, yes. Deal with that. But don’t cut and dismantle. Improve. This system has been working, but it can be improved. Sure, it’s a relief to be told simply “Get rid of it, let us have our money for ourselves!” But it is not a reality. It’s a simple answer. It’s a false answer.

Take a look at this: President Obama’s wholehearted, direct support of the Arc of the US. What has Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, or Rick Santorum done for the Arc lately?  God bless President Obama, a direct link to our Founding Fathers. If you don’t believe me, read Jean-Jacques Rousseau and then read Thomas Jefferson.  Find out more about Classical Liberalism, the keystone of our country’s beginnings. Don’t let Newt et al. dumb it all down.