palominocorn:nentuaby: givemeunicorns:death-burst:My usual retort to people who don’t want
palominocorn:nentuaby: givemeunicorns: death-burst: My usual retort to people who don’t want “universal healthcare/education/basic income/etc.” under the pretense that “the rich shouldn’t have access to it” is that it’s cheaper to just give it to everyone no-question-asked than to try and judge every single case just to exclude a tiny minority of them. But this tweet thread? This right there? That’s a damn powerful argument. Something that can actually convince people emotionally, more than my cynical, it’s-cheaper-that-way, pragmatic approach. I’ll keep it, and I’ll re-use it, because it’s with thread like this that you change the world, one opinion at a time. The number of people I know, myself included, who stayed in the closet because they feared the lose of financial support from their parent is crazy. My partner grew up poor. Her parents didn’t have shit. But they managed to financially abuse her in this exact manner just by refusing to provide documentation that they were poor. No parental income documentation? No FAFSA. No FAFSA? None of the need-based aid she was 100% qualified for. No aid? No college for her poor ass. So no, this “but what if a person who didn’t need the help got it” rhetoric will not just harm the children of the rich, even the marginalized and estranged children of the rich. It harms everyone whose parents don’t want them to succeed. My parents become rich - like, 1% rich - sometime when I was in late elementary school.My older siblings were in college at the time.Not a single one of us got a cent toward our education. In fact I’m pretty sure my parents MADE money off my education, since they pocketed the remainder of my scholarship money (what was supposed to be a stipend).It wasn’t just education, either. I didn’t have health insurance until I turned 18 (and got it through my college - at a ridiculous cost) because my parents just… didn’t want to spend the money to put me on their insurance. And then they whined about how expensive it would be to take me to the doctor so I didn’t go to the doctor. Even when I literally got run over by a car and my leg was covered in blood and I could barely walk.It’s… really hard to get through to people that my parents abused me, and especially that they financially abused me. I had fancy electronics and I went on international vacations, all paid for by my parents… and I didn’t have health insurance and therefore couldn’t go to the doctor (and then one time I ended up in the ER - and my rich as heck parents made me, a broke college student, pay the bill).The “oh ho ho, we’re so generous with our children, look, they have the latest gadgets” (but not winter shoes) was part of the act. And I suspect it’s an act that most rich abusers are very good at.Free tuition and healthcare and shelter for all, okay? No means testing. Just give it to everyone. -- source link