From Paul Krugman, writing for the
New York Times:
If you want to understand the trouble Republicans are in, one good place
to start is with the obsession the right has lately developed with the
rising disability rolls. The growing number of Americans receiving
disability payments has, for many on the right, become a symbol of our
economic and moral decay; we’re becoming a nation of malingerers. ...
What strikes me, however, isn’t just the way the right is trying to
turn a reasonable development [the increase in disability rolls] into some kind of outrage; it’s the
political tone-deafness.
I mean, when Reagan ranted about welfare
queens driving Cadillacs, he was inventing a fake problem — but his rant
resonated with angry white voters, who understood perfectly well who
Reagan was targeting. But Americans on disability as moochers? That
isn’t, as far as I can tell, an especially nonwhite group — and it’s a
group that is surely as likely to elicit sympathy as disdain. There’s
just no way it can serve the kind of political purpose the old
welfare-kicking rhetoric used to perform.
It is Prof. Krugman who doesn't understand that it is effective because it resonates the same way as the welfare queen canard. Each is a hate-based criticism that posits a hated "other" out there with whom even the disabled do not identify. The gullible did not identify with the imaginary welfare queen; today, the disabled do not identify with the imaginary moocher on the disability rolls. Each one who is disabled sees her-/himself as deserving. Many do believe that (many) others are gaming the system, and that is what feeds the success of this hate-based criticism. Krugman is wrong if he really thinks that sympathy is the sentiment that arises from this. He simply does not understand how effective this criticism is, even among the disabled, many of whom listen to, depend upon, and believe unquestioningly right-wing talk radio and FAUX News.
ReplyDelete"angry white voters, who understood perfectly well who Reagan was targeting".
ReplyDeleteYep,yep,yep,yep. I beleive the coded language is why many people of color see the republican party as racist.
I also agree with mr krugman and beleive welfare is rightly or wrongly seen as racially linked to blacks and minorities and disability is different because i suspect many whites are receiving benefits.
if they really want to do something they need to figure out why it is rising and find a way for less people to be disabled and find cures or real surgery fixes so we can get back to work.
ReplyDeleteThe easiest and best way to reduce the disability rolls is to stop paying people for being "old." The 50-year-old capable of sedentary work should not be granted disability benefits; nor should the 55-year-old capable of light (and sedentary) work.
ReplyDeleteDon't look now, but the Obama administration is developing a series of proposals to make it harder to stay on the rolls. Politics are never what they seem, folks. It's the economy, silly.
ReplyDelete