Being Right

Memory is good and bad. Remembering the "shenanigans" of the good ol' days, the early '80s, my memory is split: I clearly remember, as I was sprouting up in the grassroots activist community, bemoaning with others the changes of the venerable Ronald Reagan, changes we knew would prove disastrous for poor and vulnerable people.

As much as I like being right, I wish I was way off track on that prediction. But those of us who saw the train heading down the track, looking at scores of people chained to the railroad ties, we knew the poor were going to get creamed, and would become worse off. It's been gradual on some levels, seismic on others, but it's happening.

Paul Krugman's recent column on Ronnie's legacy refreshed my memory. That caused me to remember about 3 years ago driving down some little highway along the MA coast and spewing venom as I listened to Rep. Barney Frank chairing a U.S. House committee hearing, talking about a possible housing crisis brewing. Possible?! The disconnect infuriated me.

Reading Shannon's post on foreclosure filings every 13 seconds I harumphed in vindication. "See, we knew it was bad."

Those of us working on poverty and homelessness see way too much bad fall-out caused by public policies or lack thereof. My home state of IL is a poster child for bad policies, and is now engaged in a battle of the wills over the state budget. Sadly, among the victims of this carnage will be families and single women experiencing domestic violence. Mutual Ground DV shelter in Aurora is preparing to close their shelter doors at the end of this month. Not because they lack clients, but because the state is preparing to cut funding to DV shelters after July 1.

I've been around long enough to see how this will play out. Key legislative leaders will get together and, together with Governor Quinn, they'll figure out how to fix things last minute, just as the train nears the frightened victims. Or not...

My outrage is almost inexpressible, seeing this and countless other examples of total disregard for the value of human life. The despicable level of behavior from some policy makers, in our country and elsewhere, far overshadows any of the good being done. I think Gov. Quinn and leaders of both parties need to stand in front of the women and children about to be shoved out the doors of their refuge and explain why it's happening.

Saying the families will just have to turn to the local homeless shelter or other places is like telling people in a train wreck to just walk along a busy highway and look for a hospital. They're bound to get hurt, one way or another.

Seems to me that the political arena, nah, I'll not waste the energy to type what I think. And to further infuriate yourself, read the comments at the end of the DV article. With politicians getting "encouragement" like that, no wonder we're in a mess.

photos by the author