THE TIES THAT BIND US

Your parents worked from age 18 to 70. They are broke and in a nursing home relying on Medicaid funds. Medicaid is destroying this country you know. Your child is gay and feels shame. Luckily the church might try an intervention. Your dad is a union member who comes home covered in oil and dirt every night. Someone called him lazy. He works 50 hours a week. I heard that unions are corrupt. Your cousin is a single mother temporarily using food stamps until she can get her degree. Maybe she should have kept her legs together. You’re up to your eyeballs in 20 year student loans. They told you an education would set you free but you feel enslaved. Hey, it’s not my problem that you can sign up for 80K in loans at 18 but you can’t drink until you are 21. Tough luck kiddo. Your neighbor’s kids are receiving “free lunch” at school because their dad is laid off from his factory job. Those f*cking moochers. Your sister is a hairdresser and finally has healthcare thanks to the Affordable Care Act. Fox News told me it’s not right that the rich pay for her healthcare. That is socialist! Your childhood friend is addicted to opioids but he can’t afford a good rehab center or an inpatient stay. The beds are full anyways. He made bad choices at 16 and now he pays for his sins. Don’t you agree? Just let em die. Your good friend is hearing impaired but she can’t afford a new hearing aid because her insurance company only pays $800.00 towards the 3K cost. I heard the post office hires deaf people. Maybe I should tell her. Your Aunt skipped taking her insulin this week because she needed money for groceries. She’s overweight though…she could stand to skip a few meals, right? Your job pays less than 100K per year, but you pay more in federal income taxes than a typical millionaire due to tax loop holes you don’t qualify for. Maybe you should work hard and become a millionaire. That seems reasonable right? You’re worried about how you’re going to pay for Christmas so you might get a second job. Ho Ho Ho ya know! Gas prices are sky high but you’re numb to it. Fill er’ up on pump four. Let me just cash in these pennies for a full tank. Buying jet fuel gives you a great tax break but you don’t own a jet. Darn it. At least someone gets a tax break, right? You take birth control that is 98% effective but your priest tells you it’s a sin to prevent a pregnancy and a sin to end one. Clearly he must know more than you even though he isn’t a woman and he can’t get pregnant. I should trust him right? You live on a budget. Good job Beaver. You play by the rules. I am proud of you kiddo. You work hard but you can’t seem to get ahead. That’s life, right? You watch Fox news daily. They seem so smart and beautiful. Fox “news” told me that we are doing really well under GOP policies and trickle down economics. How do you define “really well?” Should I ask that? Be grateful you have a job! It’s obvious that gays, liberals, Mexicans, union leaders, moochers and those wackos on CNN, ABC and CBS are clearly taking over. We must STOP them before it’s too late! I’m voting for Trump because damn it…it’s perfectly okay to pay $400.00 a month for healthcare with a 4K deductible. REPEAL the ACA! Nothing is free! Show me Obama’s birth certificate! Lock up Hilary! Build that damn wall! Keep minimum wage low! Save the babies! Lock up the migrants! Distract. Distract. Distract. Stay distracted……it’s so much easier to lead the uninformed and distracted masses.

I have just one question my friend….do you deserve to get ahead, if you aren’t smart enough to know what is holding you down?

I hear your chants but sometimes your hate scares me. You wrap yourself in the flag but does that really make you a patriot? Our country was not founded by conformists but by rebels. The rebels shouted…we want MORE! We demand MORE! Did history teach us nothing? A cord of three is not easily broken so let’s try to stick together. Stop drinking your tea and spill it. Spill it in a blog, in a vote, in a voice that can’t be shushed.

By Teresa McIntosh-Hall

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Teresa McIntosh-Hall is a writer, blogger, social worker and political activist.