Kentucky Man Denounces US Safety Net While Relying on Government to Stay Alive

[DonViejo]

In a recent National Journal article, journalist Beth Reinhold exposes yet again the politically destructive reality that many poor whites -- particularly in the South -- will vote for candidates opposing government safety net programs, all the while accepting or living off those programs.

Reinhold chooses Kentucky as her case in point, where Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wages racial class warfare with his ongoing denunciation of government assistance to the needy.

:::snip:::

Take as case in point, as Reinhold does, one Terry Rupe, a Kentucky white male senior citizen:

To understand Kentucky's conflicted relationship with the federal government, 50 years after hosting President Johnson's launch of the "War on Poverty," is to meet Terry Rupe. The 63-year-old widower can't remember the last time he voted for a Democrat, and he's got nothing nice to say about President Obama. He's also never had health insurance, although he started working at age 9. Since his wife's death four years ago, he's been taking care of their 40-year-old, severely disabled daughter full time. She gets Medicaid and Medicare assistance.

"I don't have any use for the federal government," Rupe said, even though his household's $13,000 yearly income comes exclusively from Washington. "It's a bunch of liars, crooks, and thieves, and they've never done anything for me. I'm not ungrateful, but I don't have much faith in this health care law. Do I think it's going to work? No. Do I think it's going to bankrupt the country? Yes."

Rupe sounds like he could be standing on a soapbox at a tea-party rally, but he happens to be sitting in a back room at the Family Health Centers' largest clinic in Louisville—signing up for Medicaid. Rupe, who is white, insists that illegal immigrants from Mexico and Africa get more government assistance than he does. (Illegal immigrants do not, in fact, qualify for Medicaid or coverage under the Affordable Care Act.)

more
http://www.truth-out.org/buzzflash/commentary/item/18398-kentucky-man-denounces-us-safety-net-while-relying-on-government-to-stay-alive

[riversedge]

1. I know several of these type in Wisconsin

[Little Star]

2. He's got a great denial system going on there in his small mind. Yikes!

[last1standing]

3. This OP highlights why it is so important for republicans to destroy education.

Rupe isn't alone. He's one of millions of poor, uneducated people (of all ethnicities) who never learned basic logic or comprehension. In the urban African-American community its called "the school to prison pipeline" while in poor rural areas its called "staying down on the farm" even when the farm no longer exists.

You could tell this guy a thousand times that he receives federal benefits and he'd never change his mind or understand what it means. Unfortunately, its probably too late for him but its not too late for the generations after. We need a new focus on solid public education instead of this profit-driving charter bullshit. We also need to reintroduce literature and social sciences back into our schools so that our children learn "why" instead of merely "what."

[Jessy169]

4. Warped idiots like this man are the beating heart of the Republican/Tea Party

A man who can denounce government assistance while at the same time depending on government (taxpayer) assistance for his entire income is the same man who can believe that:

1) Obama is the anti-Christ
2) Benghazi and Fast-and-Furious are Obama admin cover-ups
3) Global warming is a hoax
4) Oil and other fossil fuels will never run out
5) Birth control is a democratic plot to kill off the white race
6) Republican politicians and financial supporters are looking out for his best interests

I would say that the strategy to rope all the dopes into the Republican/Tea Party has worked exceedingly well.

[Enrique]

5. when they make a movie of mr. Rupe's life

Craig T. Nelson can play him

[Nay]

6. I know quite a few of these people. They are what you get when you

allow ignorance to flourish. Maybe Mr. Rupe will figure it out when the money stops flowing into his bank account. But I doubt it.

[Auntie Bush]

8. They are what you get when you are a purist and can't/won't vote for a centrist Democrat.

[blue neen]

7. Mitch McConnell?

That headline describes McConnell to a T.

[DFW]

9. If he has "no use for the Federal Government,"

Then he has no business signing up for Medicaid, as "they've never done anything" for him. He should be denied Medicaid unless he rescinds his statement, but, of course the Federal Government he so despises is not as uncaring or as unfeeling as he is. Therefore, he gets his government handout all the same, all the while denouncing the very people who are giving it to him.

[ebbie15644]

10. Could be my father!