The Skeeter Daddle Diaries

I got some friends who are kidless. And who own cats. Being single, they have to pay their rent, their mortgage, their car payments, gas, food, health care, clothes and all the rest, by themselves. I know plenty of people on the South End who are married, both working and still have a hard time making ends meet. Excuse me if I ask the Yale graduated venture capitalist rich guy running for Vice President who thinks these women should pay more in taxes than women who have children, why the emphasis on child bearing and not, say, helping all women who struggle to find work and housing in this economy of inequality? Hillbilly Elegy, you might think, would offer some insights into poverty and the folks left behind in our technology driven society. Might even give the writer a profound sense of empathy for the poor, cat owners or not.

But no, what we have here is a man … and a political party … against raising wages, opposed to welfare, fighting to keep unions from coming back, interested primarily in giving the corporations and the wealthy a leg up, lower their taxes and hope that the old trickle down will solve the income gap. C’mon, whatever happened to compassionate conservatism? Drive down to any moderately sized city in this country and observe for yourself the proliferation of tents along the freeway or in parks or the homeless lined up along industrial avenues living in busted down RV’s or junker cars. Stop at the rest area along the way and maybe notice how many of those there are living in their vehicles, using the restroom to wash and brush their teeth.

You might think this problem would dominate the political discussions. These are our citizens. Sure, you can force them off welfare and into the workforce. But if you make minimum wage and the cost of rent is more than half your income, leaving no room for food or much else, maybe that’s not a solution. And if you happen to be one of those women JD Vance think is more invested in the future of the country and more deserving of her help, well how about covering those childcare costs, the daycare fees, the extra mouths to feed? How about offering help to ALL of those in need, even the ones who have cats? If not, spare us the talk about religion, you haven’t got one. And no, capitalism is not a religion.

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