Bootstraps

I am loving the cover article in this week's Isthmus about the implications of Gov. Walker's budget plan on those individuals in our community who depend on extra help in order to survive (let alone thrive).

The rallies have quieted these days around the Capitol, but the undercurrent of the looming implications of the budget bill are still swarming in our midst. This article is a good reminder that after the hubbub has passed, the true, scary implications are ever present. And impacting the lives of those around us in a real way.

I urge you to read this article, because it makes a case better than I ever could here, but I will mention a few of my favorite bits...

- The article points out several gaps in Walker's budget that just don't make sense (to me at least...) - i.e. why would he cut $500 million to healthcare but increase highway spending?

- The cuts to public healthcare will actually wreak havoc in the rest of the system - many people will lose their healthcare, and thus not seek medical attention until it's an emergency, increasing the use of emergency rooms - which will not only make it harder for those people with health insurance to get emergency services, it will also effectively jack up the cost of private health insurance because somehow those emergency room visits will have to be covered. Hmmmm.

- Some programs are mandated and won't take cuts - i.e. to prevent child neglect, senior abuse etc. But the plans that will thus get cut are the preventative programs - gang prevention and drug and alcohol counseling, to name a few. Will we never learn that it's better to prevent than to react?!? Such response only costs our individuals and communities more in the long run.

- The article also comments on the tendency for some politicians to live by the old mantra that people should just be expected to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." Well, here's the problem. It's difficult to do this when there are no boots. In a world of beautiful ideology, it's lovely to remember those few Hollywood stories about people who came from poverty and dysfunction and found a way to thrive - but those are just that, Hollywood stories. For every one of those, there are thousands of people trapped in the perpetual cycles of their families of orgin. And without the help that the government provides, they truly have no hope. And no healthcare. And no good food. And no basic needs. And no boots.

The article ends on this note, asking...

"What kind of people are we? Do we believe in taking care of basic needs? Or do we believe each man for himself and too bad if you don't make it to the finish line?"

Good questions. Scary to think that right now there are many people (policies) out there that make me wonder if people really are just in it for themselves.