Letter to the Editor - Waco-style

This was forwarded to me, reportedly published in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco, Texas, on November 18th.

“Put me in charge...”

"Put me in charge of food stamps. I’d get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho’s, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.

"Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I’d do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we’ll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.

"Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your “home” will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.

"In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a “government” job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the “common good.”

"Before you write that I’ve violated someone’s rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules.. Before you say that this would be “demeaning” and ruin their “self esteem,” consider that it wasn’t that long ago that taking someone else’s money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.

"If we are expected to pay for other people’s mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.

"Alfred W. Evans, Gatesville"

Whether there is really an Alfred Evans or not, I don't care. There was a town in New Jersey years ago that refused State welfare assistance and put its disadvantaged residents to work with brooms and cleaning tools, as a condition to receiving welfare assistance. Maybe we ought to do that around here.

Of course, the unions might not be too happy that cities were putting people to work for $8.00/hour, instead of union wage of $30.00.

I recall being angry in Colorado, when prisoners were demanding steak and color TVs in the late 1970s. Heck, I wasn't eating steak or watching color TV; why should they???