In a World. . . where Republicans rule supreme.

Where Democrats don’t have much say in government and are left to sit on the sidelines and complain about what could have been.

 

A young man gets shot by someone who bought a gun and some ammo at recent gun show and robbed him of his cell phone and wallet. The hospital bill is in the tens of thousands of dollars, even though he was released that same day, because the Affordable Health Care Act was repealed and Medicare has been gutted to barely care for some of the necessities of senior citizens who cannot afford their own private medical insurance.

He goes home and fixes the same thing he eats every day—Ramen noodles. Sometimes, for a special occasion, he will add a few Ketchup packets he boosts from the fast food restaurant he started working at, ever since all the immigrants got deported, creating a vacuum in the economy and causing chain layoffs as companies lost people who could afford their products. Job choices are slim since many other college graduates have flooded the foodservice, hospitality, homecare and other menial job markets.

This bright, intelligent, 26 year old man is thinking it might not be too late to join the military, the only healthy industry left after the Republican dominated government cut all the “parasitic social services” in order to create tax breaks for the rich and reduce spending to balance the budget, not to mention motivate those people “addicted to government subsidies.” Balancing the budget was supposed to be the main goal, but with all the other problems with the economy and the new wars breaking out with the Russians, Chinese, Chechens, Iraqis, Syrians, Iranians, Afghans and those pesky Pakistanis. America understands it’s hard to think about the budget at times like these, so they will wait until times are better and they can afford to focus on such things. Until then they will support an ever growing military budget and still find room to blame our overspending on the few remaining social programs that are struggling for survival.

A woman he met at a party a few weeks ago comes to his home and informs him she’s pregnant, having lost any access to birth control services she previously used, and since abortion is outlawed, they must have the baby. They both struggle to figure out how they are going to be able to support their child, let alone each other.

The day is not a total loss as they are both invited to a going away party for two of the young woman’s gay friends who are leaving for Europe, where Gay relationships are not so harshly punished and they will even be able to get married and enjoy family benefits. They are both excited at the prospect of possibly scoring some food at the party, or at least a few beers.

At the party, the main discussion makes its way to the usual topic of late; life in America and how it changed so much in just a few years.

With his wallet gone, he’s without a license, so he won’t be able to vote in next week’s elections. Everyone at the party agrees they would vote for someone other than a Republican, except they keep producing these great video promos that play all the time and really convince everybody that things will get better and we, as a society, are returning to a better, more “pure” America, just like in the good ol’ days.

Everyone can hardly wait.

Illegal Aliens come here to sponge off of us taxpayers

They come here to sponge off of us taxpayers-  

You don’t have to listen very closely to hear the hate in that statement. What they’re really saying is undocumented immigrants are all a bunch of lazy people that do nothing but live off of our social services.

How to respond-

I always tell people who try to use this argument that I haven’t met any immigrant who came here to collect Social Security or Welfare, or Medicare, or Unemployment . . . and not just because they aren’t even eligible for these programs.  Immigrants come here on their own dime, with hardly more than the clothes on their backs, to find work and earn a better life than they could at home. (Just like our immigrant ancestors did.)

Although this is often blatant hate, and usually argued by a devout Latino hater, it is still possible they just overheard a friend or relative say this, or saw some of the anit-immigration website or propaganda and fell for it. When someone you know and trust says something, or if you see it in print, you tend to believe it.

Try not to get too upset. Let them know that if someone doesn’t have a social security number, they are not eligible for any of those services. Some states may allow for a modicum of medical services or food stamps be afforded to people living below the poverty level, but this is extremely minimal and not something you would risk your life to get here for.

If your first few attempts to be logical fail, move along. Don’t let them drag you down into their depressing and angry lifestyle.