Rant #3,826: Over and Over

Well, the government shutdown is over ...

For now.

Each side can blame the other all it wants for this month-and-a-half stalemate, but the fact of the matter is that both sides were and are WRONG. 

Something like this should never happen, and the amount of Americans it impacted really is astounding.

Whether losing their jobs and/or losing needed benefits, people suffered greatly during the 43 days of this shutdown.

And the callous way some people were treated during this mess--namely those getting SNAP and WIC benefits--was reprehensible.

These people were characterized as work shirkers, illegal aliens, and people who don't deserve such benefits, but let me tell you, nothing can be further from the truth.

These are generally people who absolutely, positively need these benefits to eat and to exist, and sure, there are people who take advantage of the programs, but you can bet thst 99.9 percent of people getting SNAP  and WIC are doing so legitimately and for a good reason.

Several years ago, my son, as soneone with a disability and unable to find a job, got about $20 a month in SNAP benefits.

Once he was able to find a job, that ended, as it should have, although making $200 a week or so didn't give him much wiggle room, but he was lucky, because he lived with myself and my wife.

He was fortunate; most people getting these benefits aren't, and to have these benefits stopped--because these two sides simply couldn't get together--is both a travesty and a tragedy.

I believe the average payoff from SNAP is $257 each month, and you can bet people getting this amount had to tread water while these bull heads pointed fingers and did little else.

And finally, let's not forget that the current agreement is simply a temporary one, and we all go back to square one at the end of January.

Hopefully, it won't take these imbeciles in Washington another 43 days to put what amounts to amother Band-Aid on this situation, and will agree that this situation should never, ever happen again, and settle this thing once and for all.

Have a good weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.