Entitlement
- the fact of having a right to something
- the amount to which a person has a right
- the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment
Senator McConnell:
Definitions one and two apply to those of us who have paid (through taxes) into the Social Security and Medicare programs. We *are* entitled to the benefits that we have paid into. Entitlement, in this case, as well as unemployment, insurance, and a number of other somethings that you and your party want to deny us, actually *are* things that we are socially, legally, rightfully entitled to so you can stop misusing the word entitlement as an insult to us. I plan to reclaim it.
Definition three would apply to your tax cuts to wealthy citizens (some of whom brag about not paying their taxes, lie about it later, and refuse to show their taxes) and corporations that are not paying their fair share of taxes and are, instead, paying that money to CEOs who already make far more than what should be the maximum wage. I believe you probably fall in category three, so I can understand your reason for misleading people and protecting yourself, even though I don't condone it. The misleading part is NOT OKAY. And this #3 entitlement is not okay. It is socially and morally correct for us to use the word entitlement to shame you.
I want to walk you through my history, and remind you that I am not unique - there are many others in my situation and in much worse situations.
I was born with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, so I've been in pain just about every minute of my life. Like many people with chronic pain, I learned at an early age to manage that pain and work around it. I was determined not to let it get in my way, and I wanted no sympathy for it. It was just who I was - normal for me.
At age nineteen, I was supporting myself. I paid my own insurance, bought my own car, paid for my education (except when employers covered CEUs), paid my own rent, bought my own houses, supported my kids. Out of every paycheck, I made automatic donations to multiple charities, took in people who needed a place to stay, fed people who were hungry, drove the streets in the cold passing out gloves and scarves and blankets and food . . . I lived simply and gave what I had left to people who couldn't afford to live as well as I did. Because that's what good people do. That's what my parents did, and how they taught me to be a good citizen.
I am the only person I know who volunteered to pay extra taxes because Reagan started the mess that your party has continued, causing homelessness and increased crime to benefit the wealthiest people. (Criminal behavior, in my opinion.) I cared about people. And, at the time, I had the money to try and help those people. But one crazy lady paying a little extra in taxes didn't fix much. Just telling you that there was a time in my life when I was working and I chose to try and make things better for the 'greater good' (something else my parents taught me), not hoarding away great amounts for my future. I believed that was necessary because of actions that your party took.
I worked, and I worked extremely hard, sometimes two and three jobs, for as many years as my body could work and long after doctors encouraged me to slow down and to file for disability. I worked until I was so fatigued that I literally had to be carried out of my office once because I didn't have the energy to move. And until I had to lie down on my living floor when I got home from work one evening because I literally didn't have the energy to walk the remaining three steps to get to the couch.
During those years, I paid high premiums for disability insurance. I spent a small fortune on health insurance, deductibles, co-pays, medications . . . When the time came, after working twenty-six years, to file for disability, I had so many secondary diagnoses that could all be attributed in some way to the original diagnosis that the crooked (to use a favorite Republican word) insurance company that had taken my money for that fancy disability policy were able to deny me. And, of course, they did. And the process for getting on social security disability was long and complicated.
During the two years that it took to get a hearing, I had to live on my 401(k), and was told that I would not receive my social security until that money had been depleted. That meant that the best I could hope for the rest of my life would be to live on my social security and, when I reached retirement age, a small pension. So, if you think that people who are disabled should have a huge savings and/or pick themselves up by the bootstraps, you are clueless.
I remind you that I worked for twenty-six years and paid into social security and Medicare. There's a good possibility that I didn't pay in as much as I'll take out before I die. And your position is that I (and millions like me) deserve to die so you and your donors can destroy the economy by hoarding money. Do you know what that makes you?
There are many people who will die before they draw their social security or use Medicare. And many who will never use as much as they paid in. I believe we are covered.
My belief is that you care only about power, and being popular, (not money like so many others think) even if your popularity is for all of the wrong reasons, and it has grown from being bullied and unpopular as a child. That's the only thing that makes sense to me. What I don't understand is how you can wish misery and death on people who did nothing to you because of how someone(s) treated you in your past. I've almost given up hope that it's possible to reach a human emotion in you - but can't stop stop writing. Even if I don't get through to you, maybe I will reach a reader.
Sandy
If you would like to see your letters to McConnell published on the blog, please send them to me at: mcconnellletters@gmail.com
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