Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Working for Food

I really don't have a problem requiring able bodied and mentally fit people to work some hours in order to receive food stamps.  It is fair for them to provide at least some community services in return for sustenance.  Of course, many working people get food stamps too because of American Corporate powers keeping wages so low that the employees would starve if denied food aid.

Governor Martinez is showing everyone how tough she is in making people work for food stamps.  The problem is she has utterly failed in her responsibilities in making sure that New Mexico has a strong economy that will generate jobs.  But it isn't just her fault.  The legislature, Mayors, City Councils and County Commissions all have a role in this sad state of affairs.

One really has to wonder if there are any real leaders left in New Mexico.  Or is every politico now mostly interested in not upsetting anyone so they can hang on to their positions?  I actually can not think of one really great leader in state and local government that is saying what needs to be said.  Our representation in Washington is only brightened by Senator Heinrich and sometimes Senator Udall.  Representatives Michelle Grisham Lujan and Ben Lujan Jr. just  have to stay afloat in the bizarre House of Representatives.  Steve Pearce is just one of the nut cases that comprises the GOP.

Meanwhile, New Mexico is in the most serious economic crisis in decades as it lags behind every other state in the region.  What we need now is someone with the smarts of Franklin Delano Roosevelt who provided real leadership in a time of crisis.  Does such a person exist within or borders?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What about Tim Keller? I think he's a bright light out there.

Anonymous said...

The government reflects the people who vote. In NM, it must be mostly scared and ignorant people who vote. the kind of people who actually think poor people are the reason for our problems. Poor and non-white, that is.

Anonymous said...

The other day National Public Radio interviewed some codgy old Republican farmer from Vermont who supports Bernie Sanders, Vermont's Socialist senator, because, this guy said, Bernie stands up to the big guys and doesn't take their money.

Bernie is nationally known among people on the Left and has 544,950 followers on his Facbook page.

Martin Heinrich has 7,643 followers.

Martin could be the King of New Mexico if people thought he was up there fighting for them and not for who the Democratic Party now represents, Wall Street - they take more money from Wall Street than Republicans do, and they do their bidding. People know.

Democrats are scheming to cut Social Security and Medicaid, further than they already have, they refuse to talk about taxing rich people the way they should be taxed, the way they used to be taxed back when governments and schools and colleges weren't constantly in dire straights, they refuse to stimulate the economy, they've told working people to go screw themselves and we'll toss you a few social issue bones.

Martin is nice, decent, articulate, good looking, intelligent. People would follow him if he gave them a reason to. He doesn't. He could sway public opinion in New Mexico. He could form public opinion in New Mexico, and nationwide, like Bernie Sanders does. He could inspire people. He could get people engaged. He could unleash the latent power the people of this country have, and that they were expressing when Franklin Roosevelt came along and turned their demands into Social Security, Workmen's Comp, Unemployment Insurance, and a Labor Movement that resulted in the working people of America gaining, for a few decades anyway, the highest standard of living of any working people in the history of the world.

It's just such a waste. He has the podium, access to the media, any time he wants it. He has influence and power. Martin has shown brief flashes of courage. He used to support the Palestinians. I remember one of his first votes in the House, he stood up to AIPAC. Not long ago he spoke out about the FBI spying on his committee. Then he shut up.

He can do it. He has the right impulses. Why isn't he? What does he think he's up there for? Who does he think he's up there for? People have already forgotten who his predecessor was, not that they ever knew. Is that what Martin wants?