I seen the video, words of wisdom from Rep. Joe Walsh,
R-Ill.,
Last week at a Town Hall meeting, Rep Joe Walsh told constituents the Democratic Party wants Hispanics and blacks
to be dependent on government and also said civil rights leader
Jesse Jackson
wants the same thing.
"Jesse Jackson would be out of work if
(blacks) weren't dependent on government," Walsh said.
On Friday, Walsh had the opportunity to
apologize on the "Big John & Amy" radio show but instead, as reported by the Chicagoist, he stepped in even deeper saying,
"All Jesse Jackson is trying to do is to keep African-Americans down on some
plantation."
Walsh's bigotry is not only disheartening,
it's wrong. He's following a number of Republicans who seem to believe nonwhites
make up the majority of Americans who are on welfare. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum have made similar comments, and in January, the
Chicago Tribune reported statistics that fly in the face of the stereotypical
image of the "black 'welfare mother' having out-of-wedlock babies so she can
stay home and live large off the taxpayers."
The majority of food stamp recipients are
white, but these bigoted men seem to be incapable of comprehending the reality
in America today. Many Republicans seem to want to blame the state of the
economy on government public assistance programs, but perhaps they're just
trying to shift the blame from the real culprit: corporate welfare.
Conservatives seem to have a problem
helping individuals and families in true need, but they don't have a problem
with big tax breaks to rich corporations.
Gingrich had the gall to comment that black
Americans should demand jobs, but not food stamps, yet according to the Washington Examiner, his consulting firm received $1.6 million
in fees from the government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac.
Gingrich, Walsh and the majority of
conservatives seem to pick and choose when they want the government's help and
when they don't to suit their agenda. They drive the same government-funded
highways we all do, and also rely on firefighters and police to protect us.
