Not content to simply rescue neighbors from burning buildings and invite cold Hurricane Sandy victims into his home, Cory Booker has a new plan to connect with his constituency. He's going to live on food stamps.
On Saturday, the Newark mayor and Twitter legend engaged in a back-and-forth with @MWadeNC, a self-described Army veteran and Army wife "fighting against any and all forms of socialism/communism."
It began, as all good Twitter spats do, with an ancient Greek proverb.
Another Twitter user accused Booker of wanting to "redistribute wealth," and @MWadeNC chimed in, writing that nutrition is not a responsibility of the government and questioning why children would need food provided at school as they already have access to food stamps.
Booker then proffered a challenge:
@MWadeNC agreed --tweeting "sure, Mayor, I'm game" -- but as of now, the details have not been finalized. Other Twitter users suggested both parties must clear their cupboards of food before beginning.
On Tuesday, Booker tweeted that he hopes to get others involved, and plans to kick the challenge off post-Thanksgiving.
source
@MWadeNC has now made her twitter private
On Saturday, the Newark mayor and Twitter legend engaged in a back-and-forth with @MWadeNC, a self-described Army veteran and Army wife "fighting against any and all forms of socialism/communism."
It began, as all good Twitter spats do, with an ancient Greek proverb.
Another Twitter user accused Booker of wanting to "redistribute wealth," and @MWadeNC chimed in, writing that nutrition is not a responsibility of the government and questioning why children would need food provided at school as they already have access to food stamps.
Booker then proffered a challenge:
@MWadeNC agreed --tweeting "sure, Mayor, I'm game" -- but as of now, the details have not been finalized. Other Twitter users suggested both parties must clear their cupboards of food before beginning.
On Tuesday, Booker tweeted that he hopes to get others involved, and plans to kick the challenge off post-Thanksgiving.
source
@MWadeNC has now made her twitter private
I just don't get it, and I think it's just a way for people who don't live in poverty to show how ~aware and ~awesome they are and then they can pat themselves on the back and we can all go home happy.
So you're against Social Security, Medicare, and the numerous programs that help Veterans and their families?
I think...that his challenge was to the "its easy!" camp, and a dare. and I sort of appreciate it because unless you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, even a day or two, you might never know the reality.
Its criminal what welfare pays here, to be honest and you wind up skirting the system just to make ends meet just a bit closer. A free piece of pizza means your food budget is extended by one day. A few bus tokens means you're not walking an hour in the driving rain to go to an interview.
And then you're supposed to look hire worthy. When you're starved, cold, beat down. Yeah. THAT works. Strip people of their dignity the yell bootstraps! I swear, its not just wanting people to pull themselves up, but just when you think you get an out, someone kicks you back in the pool. Its not enough to work yourself out of poverty, you apparently must pay penance before you can rise out of that class you've been unceremoniously thrown in.
And good luck at foodbanks. Moldy bread, clumpy milk, vegetables frozen and thawed and re frozen so much they're inedible. Useless. Only ever went twice, nothing was edible, not even remotely.
And then social workers will say "if someone offered you a job if you slept with them, why didn't you?" ( no, really. I was asked this.)
I don't begrudge anyone the need of assistance.
I wish that in addition to living off an EBT budget, these celebrities would also consider only buying groceries once per week at a play that is on a main bus route, like a 7-11, as well as trying to cook from scratch to save money after working a 12 hour day and then picking up children, helping with homework, cleaning the house, etc.
(And is that a Handmaid's icon?)
It's not a game. It's not an experiment, and it's certainly not fun. When your little social experiment has ended, you can go back to your comfortable life with your nice house, decent education and abundance of food and healthcare options; poor people can't do that. Unless you've been there, you can't truly understand.
A million "Buh-bye"s to @MWadeNC, who was ready to throw the crap out there but not to live with the backlash.
For those who find this an offensive stunt... I can see why it might strike you that way, especially if food stamps/public assistance are or have been part of your life.
But I think his larger point is that living on food stamps is NOT easy, and that people who toss out that ready dismissal should be prepared to find out how difficult it is. For those who need food stamps, they really matter, and for so many people that's just one part of the economic picture that is going very, very badly for them.
So, part of the challenge he's extending is, "Find out how much harder and more complicated this is than people like to callously assume." And the other part, knowing him, will be the reminder that for many people, this is a small fraction of the larger economic struggle they're going through to help their families survive.