The Value of Agency

When people like the Ortiz family make a decision to accept or seek press coverage, they open up a hellish amount of scrutiny. It takes an incredible amount of bravery and courage to subject yourself to that. Unlike other media figures, like politicians and celebrities, people who are willing to appear as exemplary of societal trends don’t receive power or payment. Their reward is often the response you see above. You can even see some twisted individuals questioning whether their children should even exist.

In this case, an article that really illustrated the failure of the economy in Rhode Island (and the poverty of Woonsocket) was reduced to a $75 bill for a tattoo. Instead of realizing that something is seriously wrong when a third of 13,000 people are utilizing SNAP, instead of questioning the basic assumptions of our economy, we instead questioned the decisions of two individuals. We are now lamenting the “ignorance” or “poor decision making” of the Ortiz family (while also showing our ignorance of what poverty means in America). It was not their level of knowledge nor their decisions which created and brought down the real estate bubble. They were not working on Wall Street selling toxic assets to unwitting investors. And they did not steal homes and engorge themselves on the public dime. No one on SNAP gets a golden parachute to slow their descent when they fall.

The people who crashed the economy aren’t called ignorant. They made decisions that destroyed this economy, often knowingly. They protected themselves with the Nuremberg defense; “I was just following orders.” Their behavior was reckless, feckless, and utterly destructive; just as it has been for over 30 years. They laid to waste our country’s great cities, Woonsocket among them. Millions of people across America and the world have had their lives ruined. These people have profited off of our very sicknesses. In many cases, they literally seduced the regulators sent to control their excess. And yet these are the folks who are held aloft as heroes. These are the people who are called “makers” and “job creators.” Some deluded fools even see their wealth as proof of their morality.

But if you walk a mile to work each way every day and still can’t make enough to put food on the table for your family, if you carry as much food as you possibly can so that your little girl can have a birthday party like every little girl is supposed to have, what are you? You’re a “taker.” You’re a member of the “47%.” You’re “irresponsible.” When “good government” conservatives form groups with the word “taxpayer” in them, they try to pretend like you don’t pay taxes. They ain’t forming those groups for you.

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