From the mailbag

I have no idea who this person is- but I just got this little bit of joy in my mailbox.

URINE TEST

(Whoever wrote this one deserves a HUGE pat on the back!)

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test to show I am clear of drugs, with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don’t have to pass a urine test. So here is my Question. Shouldn’t one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their rump –doing drugs, while I work. . . . Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check? I guess we could title that program, ‘Urine or You’re Out’..

Pass this along if you agree or simply delete if you don’t.
Hope you all will pass it along, though.
Something has to change in this country — and soon!!!!!!!

Oh look- let’s make it even harder for poor women with children to get help. Let’s require them to submit to tests that we don’t require for anyone else except criminals. Cause being a poor female with children is a criminal act- doncha know.

Let’s put aside that it’s racist, classist, and sexist and just focus on fairness.

Do we require people to take a drug test when they get a tax deduction or rebate? How about when they take a driver’s test? When they apply for a FHA loan program? Or Stafford or Perkins loans for college?

No. But for poor people applying for Welfare (which means overwhelmingly female, with children and often WOC) getting assistance from the government means subjecting yourself to criminal investigation that other people aren’t subjected to.

(FTR- I don’t do drugs. Haven’t since high school. Testing me would just be one more in a long line of humiliating acts that I have to go through to make sure my kid is housed and fed. But for women who do use drugs to self medicate the stress from a life lived in poverty and despair- CAN YOU REALLY BLAME THEM?).

ETA: I just forwarded this entire response to all 61 people who got this email. How much haterade do you think is going to be clogging my inbox in 3…2…1…