America is the land of opportunity, not of handouts.
The problem is that we see increasing barriers to that opportunity because politicians (and right wing media) choose to portray those opportunities as handouts.
Not raising the $7.25 federal minimum wage is one of them (not raised since 2009).
Opposing lower tuition prices or free 2 year education for all is one of them.
Opposing universal pre-K education is one of them.
Opposing Medicare negotiating drug prices is one of them.
The list goes on and on....
Raising people out of poverty and giving them opportunity comes in many different forms and if people can just step away from their self-centric perspective, turn off the opinion shows, they would see the many indirect benefits to everyone: lower crime, lower substance abuse/suicide rates, higher GDP, higher consumer spending, responsible decision making, better economy/investment return rates, etc etc
I would totally pay $0.50 more on a Big Mac if it means I get $1 back in indirect returns...
|