As an advocate of various sorts, I am active in our political process, as well as to write or call our legislators on a regular basis to express my concerns and views to my elected officials, and those who aren't, but are in my area. Granted, my biggest advocacy is for our children, particularly abused children. That does not mean that I don't advocate for others, because most people know I do. I stand for victims of domestic violence, whether you are a woman or a man. I stand for victims of sexual violence, whether you're an upstanding citizen or confined in a cell. I stand for those impoverished, whether elderly, disabled, young, or able. I will always put children first, but, for many of these people, I am often their only voice.
Mind you, there are many awesome agencies out there to help people find employment; a place to live; something to eat; clothes to wear; shoes to walk in; as well as those out there which get the awareness out there, that there are so many in need... Many who are in this country. Often, there are these groups that speak out about the wrongs that needed to be righted, and I appreciate each and every organization, group, individual... I really do. Even with all of these, and being an activist is something I have a passion for. Not just because it is my civic duty and responsibility as an American citizen, but, I enjoy it. Not like Tim Taylor from the show, Home Improvement. I enjoy it because not only does this give me purpose, the results which come out of it is gratifying. The fact that often, we are able to get something done for someone or a group of someones, is personally satisfying.
Unfortunately, I do not get paid for doing this. Children in general tend not to have any money. Not that I would accept money from children, unless it was given from their heart as a special type of thing... It touches me when I watch this happen, like the one who saved enough to give lunches to homeless people. Our children can be such a huge asset, even when they are young. Abused children are even less likely to have any money, much less the ability to come up with special projects like this. Those in severe poverty tend not to have anything, either, because of the immediate needs that are crucial to meet first, before sharing. If they do share, it's usually among each other because they understand the situation, and could use the friendship, also.
But that is okay that I do not get paid. Not even small donations to my foundation, Youth Voice Initiative, a registered 501c4. I don't mind. The economy is bad, and money is tight. Besides, we all know the saying about if you want something bad enough, you will figure out a way to get it done. Well, I have, I am, and I will. Trust me on that. It will happen. For more information, please visit the website: https://sites.google.com/site/youthvoiceinitiative/home
So, of course, because it isn't money that drives me to do this, people can rest assured that it isn't for personal gain, and so no. I cannot bribe our legislators with anything, just urge them to rise above it all to do the right thing. Right is still right, if you're the only one doing it, and wrong is still wrong even if everyone is doing it. I stand by this standpoint.
My apologies... I digress... This time, my advocacy is for our veterans and elderly people. A federal senator from Wisconsin wants to privatize social security, supposedly for the purpose of having more personal control over that money. All well and good. But, that isn't helping the situation of how so many people do not save because of poverty issues. No, it's not about making a wrong decision. Downsizing, high paying jobs moving overseas, etc... Here, we are replacing those with food service type jobs, all of which are minimum wage jobs. So, if you lost your job at Jacobson's because they closed the factory down, all the way, and then faced with not working or taking this minimum wage job, what do you do? A part time food service job that pays $7.25/hr won't support your family of 4. Too many people around here are in this same position, and would not be able to invest anything to retirement, because the money needed to provide a roof over your family's head while worrying about how to buy food, personal care items, water bill, car insurance, etc isn't going to make ends meet, much less save for a rainy day, much less invest in retirement.
We live in the USA. The home of the brave. The land of the free. So what does that mean? We are brave enough as a people in general, to go forth and chase our dreams, no matter what the cost. But, freedom is nothing, when you don't have enough to make ends meet, nor does it matter when your health is so bad, you're a slave to your health condition. Social Security makes up 24% of our federal government's spending is here. And we are talking about insolvency... maybe if the funds that were taken out for other purposes should be put back in. The only way to do that is to ensure our country is working again, while earning enough money to support their families. I, for one, would rather be able to do so, myself. Anyone who thinks that those of us on welfare want to stay on the aide is either talking to the wrong people at best, and delusional with insanely illogical thinking at worst. Either way, the solutions won't work until you understand the situation. Talk to the poor constituents, find out what the issues are, what obstacles are in place, and what not, so the issue can be fixed properly.
Info came from here: http://socialsecurity.procon.org/#Background
Back to the issue... So, here we have a Senator who wants to privatize Social Security, thus denying the poor the opportunity to save for anything. yet, with our veteran's hospitals and nursing homes filling up to the point that there is no more room for those who have served our country, so when the point of asking if these same people could get into a private facility, this same Senator voted no. WTF??? So, this guy is serious? Privatize Social Security, but, don't let our retired service members go to a private facility? You can't have it both ways. That's not how it works around here. Our soldiers deserve better than this. So do the rest of your constituents.
Speaking of constituents deserving better... Those dealing with domestic violence are forced to stay with their abusers because of the poor state of the economy. So do children who are being abused physically, psychologically, and sexually. How many lives need to be taken before we take this seriously enough to do something? Our victims need better, and no. We can't wait for this to happen in the next session. We need to do something NOW, as in 5 years ago.
This is a friendly reminder from your favorite pain in the tuches, Moi. Grazi!
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