Dear Other

Dear Other,

I’m writing to tell you about an idea I have. I don’t think it is a new idea. I’m sure the same good ideas are commonplace. It seems to me after hearing the pain of people today that good ideas aren’t enough. It also appears to me that regardless of people’s origins we all want the same thing. I suspect this is where you feel problems arise. What I mean by that is, well, that each person is a point in space, they have their own point of view, their own line of trajectory in life, they have different experiences come at them. People can have a lot in common and have different experiences for the same reasons, different results for the same experiences. What I was thinking was, how about an upgraded social system to prevent bigger problems? No, really, a better system where there is a greater safety net, a fund written into the budget every year regardless of who is in power, a fund that rises with the cost of living. It is the next required step towards national strengthening. How about removing the dominance and the split in governance through the acceptance of greater socialism? How about a multi-party system to uphold the diversity of public interests? How about an abundance of smaller groups to represent the reflexive, dynamic, ongoing variety of human points? Put all of that into one program that is made up of satellite public service offices. I’m not talking about the basic welfare program. I’m talking about an end to our slave-labor oriented “work ethic” system. The richest people in the world have never worked hard a day in their life. I know, just shake their hand.

    I realize how you might think, that socialism is unconstitutional, that everyone is in a different place. I hear a lot about hard work as a value, but I’ve never seen anyone get rich off of hard work, nor have I seen hard work prevent medical problems, nor have I seen hard work prevent a disaster, nor has hard work stopped injustice, inequality, wrongful accusation, or the fact of death. People need a safety net, people need tangible social security at all ages, and its time our system start providing greater support for people instead of a bare minimum or the more often zero. I know it’s a hard idea to accept, but its necessary if we are all to move forward.

    Did I tell you about the homeless here in the city? I’m sure I mentioned it before. It gets worse though. Homeless people are scattered down the west coast through three states. I saw them myself. They live in garbage, under highways, behind run-down buildings, sometimes going on for several blocks, and at times directly in the city center on the sidewalks. I didn’t know it was that extensive. They are all races, all ages, single people, and whole families. It scared me for my own life. After I had surgery and nearly died six years ago it was homeless people who took care of me and my small child when the local hospital put us out into a wetland where we then slept. Honestly why save my life for that? I’m certainly scared. I wasn’t scared previously. I’ve been working hard since I was a kid. I can barely survive. People complain about a welfare system, but nobody complains about corporate welfare or prisons as welfare.

    I was told by one of the social workers here on campus that people get into trouble as kids due to a bad home life then end up on drugs or worse, and then add to the homeless population. To put it lightly, I had a bad home life; in fact I am an orphan and everything bad happened to me because of it. I don’t know how I avoided getting into drugs. I remember thinking it was just plain stupid to do it, but maybe I had hidden strength, I don’t know. The point is I am not judging it. What if they had somewhere to go though? I can see you in my mind just shaking your head “no”. Some of those homeless are college students. I met one homeless person who was in a nursing program. She was married and had three kids. You probably will remind me of limited resources to build housing, but what if we took the steal and built real homes instead of using it for another oil pipeline. Nice quiet strong structurally sound buildings could help people too, but please no more skyscrapers. We could put all of the updated talent from campus to restructure society, all those great people in urban planning and environment could contribute. Even the political science people are getting in on the idea. I know about complexities, I could help problem solve. Let me ask you though, what if I had had somewhere to go instead of the street? I could have finished school when I was younger. I could have had a decent job all this time and had my own assets. I could have avoided homelessness if there had been a social welfare system to help me when I needed it. I could have avoided getting pregnant against my will. I could have preserved my health. That’s more a dream isn’t it? I had three jobs and it wasn’t enough. Some seem to just get whatever they want. I could have avoided domestic violence if there had been a better welfare system.

    Did you know that our current president has a similar personality as the man who destroyed my property and tried to kill me? The behavior is almost identical; some call it narcissism, some say that a narcissistic personality is a fancy term for domestic violence. That was property I suffered for and worked hard to obtain while tolerating sexual harassment, inferior pay, and poor working conditions right here in the homeland, and I didn’t even receive veteran’s status or benefits for the war I fought here. Yes, I got it all right here in the homeland; rape, homelessness, abuse, poverty, injustice, lousy wages when I got paid at all, and he didn’t pay me back for the damages…and I became homeless because the societal structure doesn’t honor my rights as a person. I know what you’re going to say, it’s a different subject, but is it? Are you thinking I changed the subject? I didn’t. Nobody asks to be born. I’m certainly not ecstatic about my existence.

    People are focused too on keeping resources from one another because we don’t have a better social system. I don’t believe in the conflict model system but apparently voting against it isn’t an option. My fear is increased poverty, more setbacks, and a bigger hole for you and me both. If I pursue independence I have to do it in a particular expected way. What liberty is that? I could try and find a husband, that might make it better, but men won’t date me because I have another man’s child, a man who left because the child was female and not male, but he came from a colonialist family, maybe that was why. Are you frowning at me now? I think it is because you are sick of hearing it or being confronted with it. Are you feeling weighed down as you read this? I know, there are all combinations of troubles out there. I’m telling you, I have part of a solution. Like I said, I avoided drugs and peer pressure, but when force is used I can’t always fight it off, but I want to have faith in people that they will let go of domination over others. Maybe you know too that we need to do this but you’re afraid you will have to give something up. That’s why I mentioned the satellites, that way there is distribution of responsibility.

    The welfare system today doesn’t provide the support to get people through all the way to the other side. Most can’t survive one bad luck event after the next. Problems compound just like interest and both last for years. The problems pile on top of one another until there is a pit you can never climb out of and the next thing you know, boom, your life is over and hopeless for the future because the problems are insurmountable, but you have the debt, or nothing, to pass on to your kids. There is no dignity in applying to receive a handful of cash once a month while getting letters from the government about what a looser you are for being on benefits in the first place, or hearing it in the news, TV, and social media how hated you are for it, or those constant state letter reminders of how soon they will kick you off. That’s without mentioning anything of the invasion of privacy and details the government requires about your personal life and bank information just to apply for it in the first place. We shouldn’t even need to notice it is this miserable. I’d much prefer to have the $60,000 plus income per year job than the $30 per month welfare anyday. The irony is that people with jobs are on the verge of homelessness too and they also live in poverty but they don’t receive welfare, but they could in a better social system.

    We’re lacking in widespread social support. Let people argue, let governance support the public, and that means all of the public, whether you like them or not. Nobody said you have to like everybody. Nobody said you have to hold their hand and do everything for them. You just have to care, that’s what they really want. People want to know that somebody or a group of some bodies cares about other people. This is where I have my “big” idea, how about multiple specialty NGO’s funded by the government budget indefinitely as a social welfare program. Maybe it should be called a social “betterment” fund instead, that’s more American sounding anyway, and people would probably like that better. The word “welfare” sounds too much like a Danish import for example, and people really want an American brand of social betterment. I think it’s a good idea. If multiple NGO’s had funding to support the public interest and provide alternating programs constantly, we could get more people off the streets, off drugs, in meaningful jobs, give them healthcare, let them have some fun and live a little, or whatever they need. That’s the idea, give people what they need, or at the very least help them get it. It appears, and I say appears because, as you know, I am a scientist and I prefer an in depth analysis before making a statement that, through these NGO voices today acting as specialized groups, they are better suited to serve the local public interest through national government financial support. The ACLU is in that theme, but they have a specific specialty, and we need more successful social specialties. The country is simply too large and too diverse to avoid a social betterment network any longer. In fact there should have been a social betterment program along with the writing of the constitution. People came here to escape government they didn’t like but now we have government we don’t like. I would rather know there aren’t people on the streets. I’d rather know that we don’t hate each other by practicing instead allowing each person to bring what they can to social contribution and participation within their ability, and still receive welfare if they need it. You could fund it with billionaire money. They made their fortunes on the backs of the public and are able to repay. They haven’t been accordingly taxed and they haven’t been accordingly regulated through a social betterment goals system.

    When I was a kid, one of the things we said was, “in a large group everybody will say the same thing, but get them alone and talk to them one on one and you find out how they really feel”. Do you think anyone is so hateful they truly do not care about what happens to other people? I don’t, I think people are busy with their lives and more independent groups funded by the government would help those people we can’t neglect our own families or our own health to see through the hard times. One day those people could be us and wouldn’t it be good to know someone is there to help? I know, I can hear you sighing at me already, but I’m talking about a social betterment system for everybody, not just homeless, but everybody getting what they need when they need it. Think about it, because, everybody on welfare is fairly close to being homeless, and many of those people are college students too, it’s not just the people you don’t like, it’s people like me, it’s people of all races and all ages.

Sincerely,

Your Other