Well, the 2020 election season is starting to fire up, and here comes the predictable chorus saying the same thing we always hear. When it comes to people who actually want to transform the system we live in–people who support things like a single payer health care system, a higher minimum wage, affordable college…
You want free stuff!
Lazy moochers. You want a handout, don’t you? You want to be given something for nothing.
Let me just stop this tired old song before it even gets started. I’m not a moocher. I’m certainly not lazy. I drag myself out of bed and work my ass off every single day. I don’t want a handout–I just want what I’m rightfully owed for my hard work. A decent wage. The ability to see the doctor if I’m sick. A roof over my head. Working people should be able to have access to these basics.
Conservatives twist this into the idea of class envy. If you want these things, it must be because you’re envious of what other people have and want to take that away. I don’t envy the rich their lifestyle. I certainly don’t envy Donald his garish, gold-covered absurdity of an existence. I’m not asking for what belongs to anybody else–I’m asking for what is already mine. The fruit of my hard labor.
Most Americans I know are like that. I’ve known a couple of people over the course of my life who I could genuinely describe as moochers, but they were a small minority. The majority of people I know in this country work themselves to the point of burnout and exhaustion, and they get screwed over in return. It amazes me that so many of these working class Americans still support Trump. The man has done his best to weasel away even more from them–everything from overtime pay to the ability to file a workers compensation claim for an on-the-job injury, and he certainly hasn’t helped with the tax situation. Yet they continue to love the guy who robs them of what little they have.
So no, I’m not interested in “free stuff.” But hey, getting treated with some dignity by the country I’m investing my life and work into? Now that actually sounds like a good deal….
eurobrat 
03/04/2019 at 10:32 pm
The only comment I can make to that is: “Well said.”
03/05/2019 at 3:55 pm
Thank you, and thank you for reading 🙂
03/06/2019 at 4:33 pm
Damned straight!
03/06/2019 at 7:59 pm
We all work hard enough, dammit!
03/07/2019 at 4:24 am
I don’t know how some folks keep a straight face when yelling about free stuff. My brother-in-law, who hasn’t kept a job for longer than two years at a time and drew unemployment for more years than he’s worked is one who is always chiding Democrats for only wanting free stuff. The irony is totally lost on him.
03/07/2019 at 8:49 pm
It seems like I always see older, retired people lecturing others about not working hard enough. Which, mind you…I’ve got nothing against older retired people…I hope to become one myself in the future! But I can’t help but think…they don’t even have to deal with the job thing anymore…where do they get off with the lectures?
03/08/2019 at 3:59 am
It’s human nature to believe the younger generation has it easier or has a lower work ethic. People tend to believe they’ve had a harder time earning a living than those that follow them. “Back in my day….”
03/10/2019 at 4:44 pm
That is so true and it’ll probably always be that way.