Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"I think the economy is pushing more and more people who thought they'd always be ok into the kind of economic insecurity where they need to rely on government assistance, like food stamps. But the right has so thoroughly poisoned the narrative, that half the people receiving government assistance think that they don't receive government assistance -- that's for some Other People. So some of the horrible judgment and blame and straw man arguments (and a big old spoonful of racism) are coming from people who are near the bottom rung, trying like hell to preserve a sense of identity that if they are not ON the bottom rung they will be fine and not be like Those People. They have the privilege of knowing what it looks like from up a rung or two and by god they are going to hold onto that. Also, they automatically climbed the ladder using nothing but their own bootstraps and accrued zero advantages from accidents of birth, race, geography, etc. whereas those Other People are just lazy and stupid.

"It's so toxic and poisonous, and it comes from people who say 'Vote for me to prove you're not like Those People (even though my policies could turn you into one of Those People at any time) and also to preserve your fantasy that you can be rich like me someday and need to protect that eventual future from Those People.'"

-- Captain Awkward, 2011-09-01 [ thanks to firecat for linking to the original essay this was a comment under]