A recent column in the St George News brings us face to face with the sort of destructive ignorance that the disabled confront. Somebody named Howard Sierer wrote about Social Security disability as if it were some giveaway to fakers and takers. Sierer wrote that the best way to get a government handout was to “fake a medical condition like back pain.” Such trickery will land you on Social Security’s “gravy train.”
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong
To buttress this offensive assertion, Sierer cites Social Security disability loosening their regulations for whom they consider disabled. The fact that this statement is false is apparently of no concern to Sierer. In fact, it is harder than ever to get approved for Social Security disability.
Going Dutch?
Sierer points breathlessly to the disability system in use in the Netherlands. I have discussed this system in the past (more than three years ago, mind you.) It’s not a bad idea, but it is not clear it would work in the USA, a country so fundamentally different than the Netherlands. I sincerely doubt private employers are going to take on the cost that this Dutch system requires. Just look at the systematic dismantling of workers compensation laws as proof that there is little appetite among Big Business to assume more responsibility for the health of their workers. If we took away the social safety net and left it to business, it would be just a matter of time until business reneged on their obligations.
Wait, Breitbart News Is Not Truthful?
Sierer demand to know why Social Security disability applications are not going down during peak employment. Try reading something other than Breitbart News, Howard, and you might learn that the applications are going down. Dramatically. The fact that fewer people are applying for Social Security disability does not mean those that applied before were moochers. More likely it means that there is greater demand for low-skill workers and that employers are willing to make more accommodations when unemployment is low. Don’t we want people to work if they can?
Easier To Demonize Than To Care
But, nevermind. Sierer is after bigger fish here. He wants to demonize those who need help during the worst times of their lives. Much easier to decry the disabled as fakers than to take steps to make the lives of the disabled better.
Life is hard enough for the disabled without being insulted by the likes of Howard Sierer. I sincerely hope nothing bad ever happens to him or any of his friends or family. If it did, he might have to drop the agitprop and actually think about the reality of being disabled.
He might have to stop being a faker.
The Ignorant Keep On Coming
But, just in case you think I am being too hard on Howard, he has good company among the ignorant. Check out this whopper of a plan from a Republican from Indiana (redundant?) If we could run power plants on stupidity, electricity would be free for all.
Oh, wait– is that Socialism?
