Waldo JaquithApr 9, 2024
Oklahoma’s governor refuses to let kids in his state access the federal government’s new summer EBT program, to ensure that kids can have meals when school is out. In response, five tribal nations have teamed up to provide the benefits to any eligible kids who happen to live on tribal land (which is a lot of Oklahoma). https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/09/us/politics/school-meals-summer-ebt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jE0.NZAi.mehkrnKm8xuN&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare&ugrp=u&sgrp=c-cb
Another Red-Blue Divide: Money to Feed Kids in the Summer

Congress passed bipartisan legislation to provide families that rely on subsidized school meals with help buying food over the summer. Nearly half of Republican-led states have yet to sign on.

The New York Times
Show threadMatthew HaugheyApr 9, 2024
@waldoj bonkers that someone can run on a “letting children starve is good, actually” platform and not get voted out of politics forever
Show threadTexty the Bard
@mathowie @waldoj It's an evangelical thing. It's partly "sins of the father" logic, and partly a belief that it's necessary for children to suffer to teach them obedience.
Apr 9, 2024 at 11:31pmWeb
Show threadTheZorseApr 10, 2024

@textualdeviance @mathowie @waldoj

It's a Republican thing. I volunteer at a soup kitchen where, of course, people eat for free, including children. Many of the other volunteers are evangelicals. They are very happy to give people food.

Show threadTexty the BardApr 10, 2024
@TheZorse @mathowie @waldoj Is the soup kitchen religious or secular? Because religious conservatives are happy to hand out charity if it comes with an opportunity to proselytize. They're violently opposed to the government handling social services because they see it as competition for their game.
Show threadTheZorseApr 10, 2024

@textualdeviance @mathowie @waldoj

It's a Christian place, but no specific denomination. Sometimes there are people who hand out Christian fliers but no one has to take them. And the volunteers don't have to be religious - there are different types of Christians, a few Hindus/Sikhs (I think, but didn't ask them), an atheist or two...

I don't know how most of the people there vote, and I'm sure not everyone has the same beliefs and attitudes, but overall the place is full of real love - it's not a gimmick. And there is no secular place in town that feeds people every day; just one Christian place and one Sikh place.

Volunteering there has changed my life for the better.

Show threadTexty the BardApr 10, 2024

@TheZorse @mathowie @waldoj And there we have it. If your local government did try to provide these services without any of the religious framing, I can pretty much guarantee some of those evangelicals you think are good people would show a very different side of themselves.

In the words of Stephen Sondheim: "Nice" is different than "good." My mom seems like a total sweetheart on the surface. She's also a racist, Trump-voting anti-vaxer who thinks everyone who isn't baptized is going to Hell.

Show threadTheZorseApr 10, 2024

@textualdeviance @mathowie @waldoj

Sorry, I didn't mention that I'm not American. I'm from one of those Western countries (i.e. all of them except the U.S.) that has free health care and strict gun laws. (Our conservatives are generally more liberal than the Democrats.)

Show threadSophie SchmiegApr 10, 2024
@TheZorse @textualdeviance @mathowie @waldoj are you per chance in a place where evangelical sounds like protestant? Because it's the specific radical Calvinist protestant tradition, not all protestants that is meant here.
Show threadTexty the BardApr 10, 2024
@TheZorse @mathowie @waldoj American evangelicals and similar sects are a completely different breed than most of the Protestant splinter groups one finds elsewhere. I'm talking about groups like the 25% of the country that believes in Biblical literalism and young-Earth creationism. If that doesn't describe your evangelicals, then they're definitely different than ours.
Show threadTheZorseApr 12, 2024

@textualdeviance @mathowie @waldoj

The Biblical literalism does describe some of them, but that kind of antagonistic, cruel attitude I read about American evangelicals isn't much of a thing here. I'm sure it exists, but it isn't something I've encountered or heard anyone talk about. And as far as social programs go, that's just a normal thing here. If anyone opposes them, it would be far more likely to be capitalists than Christians, specifically.

These people at the soup kitchen are good people. I might not see 100% eye to eye with them, but they have good hearts. That's why I spoke up. :)

Show threadFoxhackApr 10, 2024
@textualdeviance @mathowie @waldoj Evangelicals are a blight upon the world.