By: Jane Stillwater
The other day I went to visit an old friend of mine who I hadn’t seen in years — but now she was dying, truly dying. It was a very sobering experience. Who would have thought that this formerly enthusiastic, vibrant and energetic woman would now be reduced an almost-human shell, a mere skeleton that breathed?
But the Grim Reaper eventually comes for us all. Except, of course, for me.
Having never known a world that existed without me in it, I find it hard to comprehend that such a world might someday exist. It’s hard for me to believe that someday even I too will be dead. And so I will probably live forever — but the rest of you won’t.
However, don’t despair just yet. Currently, large numbers of doctors and scientists all over the world are working their butts off to make sure that you too will have lives that extend far beyond today’s actuary tables. But on the other hand, so many corporate-owned politicians in Washington these days are also happily working their little hearts out to make sure that you don’t.
So many corporate-owned politicians in Washington these days seem to be going out of their way to work side by side with the Grim Reaper. They declare unnecessary wars. They tax us (not themselves) right down to the bone. They steal all our safety nets in order to have more money to add to THEIR safety nets. They bust our unions, steal our pension plans, enable Wall Street to invent pyramid schemes that ruin our economy, encourage big health insurance companies to cut us loose just when we need them the most, and allow Monsanto to poison our food, mutilate our seed stock and kill off our bees http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13459.
In America, death seems to be coming earlier and earlier to those who vote.
And now GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has come up with an even more sure-fire plan to help out his new BFF, the Grim Reaper. Now Romney wants to not only eliminate most U.S. housing subsidies, he wants to eliminate the entire department of Housing and Urban Renewal as well. That will certainly speed up the Grim Reaper’s efforts for sure.
According to Forbes magazine, “In a closed-door Florida fundraiser for donors tonight, Mitt Romney offered a rare glimpse into his policy plans if elected President. And, as NBC reports, he got quite trigger-happy.” http://www.forbes.com/sites/markbergen/2012/04/15/mitt-romney-says-he-may-ditch-hud/
According to TruthOut, “Romney’s plan to eliminate HUD, assuming he didn’t shuffle its programs to other departments, would bring an end to critical programs like Section 8 housing vouchers and community development block grants. And eliminating housing assistance is even more problematic given the disproportionate percentage of veterans in the homeless population.” http://truth-out.org/news/item/8580-mitt-romney-tells-rich-donors-his-secret-plan-to-cut-housing-assistance
But what does Romney’s latest brilliant idea actually mean in terms of you and me? It means once again that the rich continue to get richer and live longer while the rest of us just conveniently die off too soon — because homeless people have a lot shorter life span than folks happily housed in the Hamptons. You know that senior housing complex in your town where seniors now get a rent break courtesy of HUD? That will be gone. And without HUD, frail and ailing seniors will soon be wandering the streets of your town, dying in alleyways and hogging up all the space in your cemeteries.
You know those low-income “housing projects” on the other side of your town where all the poor people now live? Those will be gone too. Too bad for them. And now desperate poor folks will be wandering around in your part of town, homeless too. And did I already mention that they will be desperate?
And all those homeless vets? There will be a lot more of them now — also wandering around your city or town.
Remember back in the 1970s when Reagan shut down all those mental institutions and suddenly we had all sorts of crazy people wandering around, hopefully taking their meds but probably not? And if Romney’s latest hot new scheme takes hold, even more of them will be back on your streets.
And physically handicapped people will have no place to live either. They too will be wandering around, trying to elude the Grim Reaper.
And the number of homeless children will dramatically increase. A lot more little kids will be living in cars — if they’re lucky.
And all of these homeless people, millions of them, will be pouring into the streets of your city or town, herded in your direction by both corporate-owned politicians in Washington and the Grim Reaper himself — who also will have a sharp eye out for YOU.
Currently, about the only thing that stands between what America looked like back during the 1930s Great Depression and what America looks like now is the department of Housing and Urban Renewal. HUD.
When we taxpayers give our money to HUD, what we are basically buying is window dressing, the illusion that America is still prosperous, still offers possibilities of advancement to its citizens and is still a First World country. Without HUD’s Section 8 vouchers and other forms of help with housing needs, that curtain of illusion will be pulled back and those rose-colored glasses will be unceremoniously jerked off. And America’s current dysfunctions will be seen clearly by all. And the Grim Reaper will be set free to wander our streets at will.
But Romney and his friends will never have to worry about the Grim Reaper coming into their homes. Why should they worry — when the G.R. will find it so much easier to come into ours. If we still have homes, that is.
PS: I truly do not understand why Americans seem so fearful of far-away “terrorists” and are so willing to spend trillions of dollars to protect themselves from this rather small threat — but won’t spend hardly a nickel to protect themselves from politicians in Washington who are an infinitely larger threat to our lives.
Gee I wish that I had never had to write this — but that doesn’t make it any less true. The GOP has definitely got the GR covered, making his work even easier than ever before, except perhaps for back during the Middle Ages or when Robber Barons ruled ruled the earth.
Jane, I wish you had never had to write it either. But I am glad it’s being brought up. And, the comparison to Ronald Regan’s debacle with the Mentally Ill is apt. We are still seeing the effects of that horrible decision.
It is horrendous that we would care so little for the homeless amoungst us. However people aren’t even yet thinking-this will effect those who are currently IN housing. Then what? Empty run-down buidlings and people on the streets. How does that fit with making the nation run? On any level?
As grim as this future would be, perhaps it’s not all bad – as I’ve said so many times before, when you throw that many people in the street, revolution – the nasty, violent kind – is all but guaranteed.
Marie Antoinette was (mis)quoted as saying “Let them eat cake!” when bread grew short thanks to decades of domestic policy eerily reminiscent of our own.
Maybe what we need is a guillotine near the Big Bronze Bull on Wall Street.
Frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner.
-W
[Quote=Article]I truly do not understand why Americans seem so fearful of far-away “terrorists” and are so willing to spend trillions of dollars to protect themselves from this rather small threat — but won’t spend hardly a nickel to protect themselves from politicians in Washington who are an infinitely larger threat to our lives.[/quote]
Answer: the “terrorists” (which is only a concept which exists for political reasons…) are the threat that’s constantly hyped up in the media (especailly since the 9/11 false flag operation – this film covers most of the details http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31079.htm#IDComment339373440 ) whilst the threat of the state is downplayed as the same old “democracy” line is thrown aboutto convince the common man he still has a voice in politics while he’ really just being scammed.
People, as a group, are easily led to believe all sorts of insane ideas (as I pointed out in my last submission to this site) – and thus it’s easy for a handful of puppet masters to control most of the people, most of the time…
I think the future is going to get very bad. Those who are not homeless, will be under constant house arrest, their every movement watched for possible transgressions. Why? Because if you can afford a home, you still have some money, some means of substance, and they need those funds to support their burgeoning legal system. The homeless have nothing, therefore they are of no real interest. They are moved along, heckled, beaten now and then, but since all their funds have been dissolved, they are of very little to no value.
The one good thing i see coming out of this is more or less what Will said. In the worst of times, the best in good people comes out. There might not seem to be a lot of good people at this time, but i believe there are. I believe these good people will begin pushing back. I believe that ultimately, they will say “enough” and then the real battle will begin.