Post #3276551

2026-06-04 09:27 UTC

@broadwaybabyto@zeroes.ca Someone told me once that the key to understanding the conservative/right/rich ideology is that it all stems from the idea that rich people are rich due to their virtues and that being rich is virtuous, and poor people are poor due to their failings and being poor is a failing. After that day to me, all govt policies suddenly make perfect sense as to why the performative cruelty is so important to those who propose and support them.

Replies (2)

@c_merriweather@social.linux.pizza 2026-06-06 19:48

@aj@home.ajacks.net @broadwaybabyto@zeroes.ca Ah, the basic tenants of Calvinism. The rich are the "elect."

Open ##3276552
@killick@dmv.community 2026-06-07 01:28

@aj@home.ajacks.net @broadwaybabyto@zeroes.ca It's Aesop's hard-working ants vs. the lazy grasshopper again and again. This is a trope nearly as old as western 'civilization." I hate "means-testing" in which you have to _prove_ you're poor enough to warrant food or medicine or an education beyond secondary school. To get public education for your kids in my county, you have to prove you live in the county. If you own your home, the school can just look in the state records to see if you are the owner. A few clicks of the mouse and it's done. If you rent, you have to show a current signed lease. If you are so poor you're staying with a friend or relative, then you and that person have to sign a declaration in the presence of a notary public, who, for a fee, will notarize the form. Then you need to show the school the lease, and you have to come up with two pieces of "official". mail you have received at your address to enroll your kid. Hello! If you've just moved in with your sister, you don't have "official" mail yet. You have jack shit. You had to leave your last place and you're trying to not miss more work shifts so you can keep your jobs. You want your kids enrolled as soon as you can do it, because the state claims they have a right to an education. This is just one example of how EVERYTHING is harder when you are poor.

Open ##3276553