On this Veterans’ Day I listened to folks talk about all the stuff that was canceled this year because of the government shutdown. I think about the 42,000,000 people who lost food benefits because a bunch of politicians put their own political agendas before things in this world that truly matter, like the ability to eat, “And I am furious!”
I also think, too, about the conversation I participated in at a group meeting led by Helise McGowan. A possible government shutdown was looming when that meeting took place in the fall of 2023, and I had commented that it’s a bit of a stressor for folks depending upon subsidies to hear of such a possibility these days. I had said, “At some point, if the government is shut down long enough, it will eventually impact even Social Security.” Her response as I recall it? “I don’t think that will ever happen.”
Of course, if Helise was ever to read this she might have a different spin on that conversation, should she even choose to acknowledge it ever took place, and that is fine. But the truth is, we’ve just witnessed congress’s willingness to let 42,000,000 people suffer (go hungry) over “Health Care”. Imagine that. “Health Care!”
This sends a powerful message to many of us who are disabled for whatever reason. It tells us about our true value in society, even to the woke party led by Hakeem Jeffries who threw less fortunate members of his own community under the bus through his support of this latest and longest government shutdown yet.
But I’m not really surprised that Helise McGowan and other employees of The Mental Health Association of New Jersey’s Wellness Hub in Newton NJ would tell clients that a government shutdown wouldn’t eventually lead to benefits being taken away. They demonstrated to me in spades that their ability to comprehend issues surrounding living with blindness let alone other disabilities was negligible at best.
In fact, I’m pretty sure, though I can’t prove it on paper, that the Mental Health Association who operates The Gathering Place and The Wellness Hub on Spring Street in Newton NJ has probably delighted in the profits our government’s blunder has generated for them and their associates. In my personal opinion, the only reason they are here at all is because, “They are in the Client Brokering Business.”
I regret ever having dealt with them, even singing their praises at one point, as I now see upon reflection and observation that they are not who they appear to be on the surface. However, maybe the next government shutdown will drive them out of their partially government funded business, too. “One can dream!”
Anyhow… While it seems the government will be reopening soon, I am looking over my financial situation and making plans for the next government shutdown. “True!” I was not one of the 42, 000,000 million who got screwed by the children who run this country in Washington DC. However, I know now beyond a doubt that I’m a commodity to be profited from but abandoned over woke ideology that clearly has no room for people with disabilities, “Even amongst the politicians who run this country.”
Mr. President. Donald J. Trump. You have a son with a disability, do you not? What is your own son’s value to you? What if he didn’t have you for a father? Can you imagine him having suffered the fate of 42,000,000 people over politics? I guess it’s a good thing he’s “your” kid, “Right?”