Meanwhile, step foot in any blue city and look at all the hungry people. As a matter of fact, look at how the resources red states are rapidly losing are utilized…
Oh, no doubt. The entire concept of "homeless" was radically different back home compared to, say, Philadelphia. I knew plenty of homeless people - couch surfer or transient people would perhaps be a better descriptor, but still they had no home - but they weren't, you know, out on the streets. Under bridges, in alleyways, just kind of stuck wherever people didn't want them. That's not what life was like. But that
is, obviously, the way homelessness is in Philly. I just... the first time I saw someone living like that, with everyone around me ignoring them, and it wasn't some fictional dystopian future on TV? Yeah that hit different.
The only real difference between a red state and a blue state is how far down you can fall. Or, perhaps, how high you can climb before you fall. While making ends meet in blue states is hard enough as it is, even if you work two full-time jobs in a red state, whether that's at the Federal Minimum of $7.25 or say Ohio's $10.45, you're not making enough to be able to move and live in a better place on your own. You're just not. And the thresholds on State benefits are intentionally rigged so that there's an enormous chasm between being poor and being
vaguely comfortable - as soon as you can see that bottom rung of comfort on the horizon, your benefits start getting cut into or just stop entirely. You very much reach a point, and not terribly far into the process I might add, where you're earning
less with every dinky little COLI you get.
And where, as you say, blue states waste taxpayer money hand over fist on honestly malicious ass shit like
homeless-proofing fucking park benches, or just do some good old fashioned misappropriation, red states - or purple states on their way to becoming red ones - (intentionally) can't even keep their public libraries open. Funding the arts, public parks, community centers? Absolute pipe dream unless some "independently wealthy" jackass wants to slap their name on something.
There's sadly no accounting for ridiculously fucked up people (I both kinda do and absolutely do not want to understand the logistics of
having a fetus just rotting on a bus seat?!), but like... yeah, those resources are important and shouldn't be so hard to come by. For anyone, anywhere.
To be fair, cost of every day necessities like food, housing, wifi (yes, wifi is considered a necessity imo nowadays) are through the roof no matter where you are, red or blue.
Internet should absolutely be considered a necessity, yes. Same thing with a cellphone, whether it's a smartphone or not - I don't know if it's still the case, but back during Obama's presidency the Lifeline benefit ended up getting extended to prepaid cellphones, those kind of obnoxious Tracfones and such, for this very reason. The "Obamaphone," as it were.
'Cause like, yeah, you legitimately actually can't just walk into most places these days and submit a job application. In my hometown you
had to do it online, for everything from the local (regional) grocery chain to the Staples, Best Buy, etc., over in the nearby-ish mall. No idea how the fuck you're supposed to accomplish that when you can barely afford food or rent, but hey - that's the people's problem, right?
Meanwhile my mother's cable + internet package spiked $85 with no warning because these ghouls still do the "promotional rate" bullshit and you have to call and babysit them every ~11 months, to get your chain jerked for no discernible fucking reason. And don't get me started on the prevalence of fucking Rent-A-Centers and Payday Loans(harks) in predominately poor areas. I don't think I've seen a single one of either of those since moving up here! Rancid dogshit people I swear to fucking Baphomet...
Anyway I forgot what I was bitching about this time so we'll stop there. Y'all get the point anyway.
