Mastodawn

They pay $34 for burgers. Should their fire department service be free? Opening a new fire department in one of NYC's richest neighborhoods has some of America's pettiest journalists asking silly questions in headlines again.🤡

The article acknowledges the fire department analogy, then blows past it.🤷🏿‍♂️

The solve for "Sometimes when a service like free childcare is available to all, marginalized communities get squeezed out," is "Address that racism."

It's not "Therefore waste incredible amounts of time and money trying to means test something that society should just make available to all.🤡"

Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸12h ago

@mekkaokereke
When school lunch programs throw out the "who deserves to get free lunches?" and just provide for every child, the entire program is cheaper due to the lack of an enforcement layer, all children get fed, and children learn more and pay attention better.

Being overly concerned that someone might get something they don't "deserve" usually ends up screwing over the ones who need help most.

We're supposed to "promote the general welfare" of the public - not gate-keep who gets help.

@realtegan @mekkaokereke Sigh. I really hate the mindset of “what if someone undeserving benefits.”

So what? Especially when it involves children.

Laura "Tegan" Gjovaag ⛈ 🐸11h ago

@CStamp @mekkaokereke
Exactly.

And by giving everyone a free lunch and breakfast, it removes the stigma of "being too poor" to pay for lunch. That removes a tiny portion of the humiliation that comes from living in poverty.

Then there's the families who cannot figure out how to apply for the free lunch program - or don't have time because the parent(s) work extra jobs. Those children don't go hungry if every child is fed.

We need to stop gate-keeping who needs help, and just help people.

Carolyn 11h ago

@realtegan @mekkaokereke If the US has trillions of $ to bomb children in other nations, they certainly have $ to feed its own kids. :(

Kids are the most importantly resource of any country.

Stephen Dioxide

@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke
“Civil government, so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.”
― Adam Smith

"The primary function of government is to protect the minority of the opulent from the majority of the poor."
- James Madison

@Steve @CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke

And at least Madison thought this was a feature rather than a bug. In fact Madison's obsessive worry that in a democracy the majority of the poor might vote in laws that would protect them from capitalist predation, which after all is how he and his founding buddies made their dough, is why we have a republic rather than a democracy. He lays it all out in the open in Federalist 10.

https://billofrightsinstitute.org/primary-sources/federalist-no-10/

Federalist No. 10 by James Madison | Majority Rule v Minority Rights

Federalist No.10 written by James Madison defended the form of republican government proposed by the Constitution.

National Leader in Civic Education Resources | Bill of Rights Institute

Philip Mallegol-Hansen 11h ago

@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke Is it even *possible* for anyone (a child in particular) to be undeserving?

Seems like a pretty vital assumption that the answer is yes, but I’m not convinced.

Yenn dc ☂️7h ago

I *might* be willing to concede that people who can afford to (and do) put effort into keeping others from eating are [themselves undeserving].

That's about it tho.

MikeStok 11h ago

@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke if we’re going to give billionaires and corporations tax breaks then feeding kids without means testing seems like small change.

Ken Milmore 11h ago

@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke "Deserves got nothing to do with it"

Greg Bell 10h ago

@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke also, means testing is expensive, hard, and sucks. The most cost-effective way to help everyone who deserves it, is to help everyone.

George B 5h ago

@CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke

Most American thing is making 100 people suffer to avoid 1 freeloader.

@gbargoud But what if the wrong children get to eat? @CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke

Bruce Mirken 2h ago

@Thad @gbargoud @CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke This whole discussion is so silly because any perceived problem is easily solved in 2 simple steps: 1) Feed ALL the kids. 2) Tax the rich so they pay their fair share of the program's total cost. Was that hard?

Bruce Mirken 2h ago

@Thad @gbargoud @CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke And of course, the same principle applies to healthcare, child care, etc., etc. Not complicated with 10 seconds of thought.

@BruceMirken @Thad @gbargoud @realtegan @mekkaokereke Seems so logical.

Rupert V/3h ago

@gbargoud @CStamp @realtegan @mekkaokereke More like making 10,000 people suffer to create one millionaire and blaming it on the 100 "freeloaders".

CassandraVert 1h ago

That's about 1/3 of the country on the far right. It's not everyone. 1/3 on the left would say let's feed all the kids in case one is hungry. And the 1/3 in the middle vascillate.