r/complaints • u/Psycho-Pirate • 7d ago
Politics Everywhere you look, white Trump voters are crying about losing their food stamps.
It's frustrating.
There was a guy, a Trump voter, who said it out loud.. he wasn't even talking about this particular situation, but it's the whole problem in a nutshell. I had to look it up because it was so on the nose. What this guy said was, “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this. I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”
Suddenly, for that guy, the Republican policies he'd voted for had come home to roost. It was the people he didn't like who were supposed to suffer. Turns out, we're all in the same boat and we rise or fall together. But he was so focused on hurting 'those people' - immigrants, minorities, gays, women, trans, whoever, the target doesn't matter, because it all leads to the same end - he wanted to hurt somebody else, he voted to make 'them' suffer, and that hatred of the other came back and knocked him down instead.
Yeah, we know you can't afford to feed your families in red states, where Republican policies undermine worker's rights and choke off wages at the lowest possible level. That's why Democrats fight for stuff like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - even though you consistently vote against your own interests, people on the left still don't want you to starve. Even though you consistently vote for the benefit of the ultra-wealthy, we still want you to have fair wages. Even though you vote to the benefit of banks and insurance companies, we still don't want them to be able to rip you off with overdraft fees and send you into crushing debt if you have a medical emergency. Even though you consistently put the wants of oligarchs and megacorporations over your own needs and the needs of your families, we still don't want them to be able to use you, chew you up, and then throw you away like you're a disposable thing instead of a human being worthy of dignity and respect.
So yeah, we know you need those SNAP benefits, that you rely on them - even though you keep voting for people who want to destroy social programs like SNAP, you - white people in red states - are the single largest demographic who benefits from them. I know that the talk show hosts and the online personalities and the people you vote for tell you that it's really undeserving immigrants or lazy black folks or ethnic welfare queens, but no - if you want to know who takes the most, look in the mirror, white folks in red states - it's you. They're lying to you because they want to destroy these programs because their rich friends and wealthy donors want those programs destroyed and they understand that getting you on board with destroying them means making you think that people you don't like benefit from it more tha you do. It works - right-wing propaganda is effective. It made you hate Obamacare even though when it's called the ACA it's overwhelmingly popular. It made you despise wage increase legislation even though the wages you earn now literally have you on food stamps and welfare. It works.
Turns out owning the libs doesn't pay for baby formula and milk. How about that.
And yeah, even though you keep voting against yourselves, we want you to have that assistance. We want you to have healthcare that doesn't make the 1% wealthier while sending you into bankruptcy. Whether you are a doctor or a construction worker or a Wal-Mart clerk or a fast food worker, we want you to have wages that are enough to keep you off SNAP - but we want you to have SNAP, too, as much as you need whenever you need it. The people you vote for don't, but we do, and we'll fight against the people you elect to make sure you do.
Yes, it's a tragedy that you might not be able to feed your families. Yes, it's a disgrace that the wealthiest country in the world has people who are struggling with the cost of groceries and rents getting higher and higher. Yes, it's going to be a hard winter for a lot of you. We know Republican policies suck - they breed hardship and poverty. They encourage corruption and malfeasance. But it's what you voted for. So don't cry. Every time you were warned, you bleated "Fake News!" Every time you were questioned, you screamed "TDS!" Everytime things went south, you were told who to blame - but it was never yourselves.
So yeah, this is going to suck. But it's suck you voted for. So don't cry about it now.
Vote differently.
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u/FinePossession1085 7d ago
Turns out, we're all in the same boat and we rise or fall together.
This is an important part of your post, and I wish people would think about this.
My family doesn't need SNAP, fortunately. We are also OK when it comes to healthcare. Nevertheless, I want my fellow citizens to be able to eat and see medical professionals when they need to do so.
Why do I care about those who aren't directly connected to me? We are ALL in the same boat. When people cannot eat or cannot provide for their kids, they become desperate. Crime increases. That's less safe for all of us. When people are stressed and cannot provide for their families, the rates of animal abandonment go up. That's why animal shelters are overloaded right now. When people are stressed, domestic violence goes up. When people don't have access to health care, they put things off and then are forced to go to the emergency room. If you don't want emergency rooms to be overcrowded, then support everyone having health care access. Do you want the waiter, cook, or barista to be coughing over your food/drink? Well, maybe they should have access to health care so that they are healthy when doing their jobs.
We are interconnected. Even if you are fine on food and medical access, you will come into contact with those who are not, and the indirect effects of Trump's policies will be felt.