One of the features of working in non-profit is being in contact with more liberals than is probably good for a person. Daily. Sometimes for hours on end. We are trying to do good. Hearts, at least, are in the right place.
One of the downsides, though, is liberals refusing to see evidence that their political heroes’ celebrated legislation is becoming a factor when it comes to justifying the need that the organization for which we work meets: hunger relief.
(Jesus did ask us to feed the hungry. It’s a problem as old as time and one that will not go away anytime soon. The closest we came, it seems, was the 70’s before the factory jobs were exported. Before the environmental laws and unions made doing factory business so expensive. That’s what they tell me, anyway.)
Every year, 501c3 non-profits write grant proposals. Scores of grant proposals. And every year, we have to come up with a new angle to justify the requests. (Hunger exists in our community because… ) For a couple years, “the downturn in the economy” worked. Last year, the extreme heat during the summer that destroyed crops and prompted sell-offs of herds contributing to the rise of food prices was the big story. (Can’t use fuel prices anymore. No reality check on that bugaboo, either.)
This year, both of those truths still exist, but there is now a third: for many people who were previously not hungry due to economic strain, hours worked HAVE been cut to less than 29 per week, thus reducing income by a quarter. Why? In a word, ObamaCare. Business owners made a business decision to keep their employees’ work status at less than full-time, and since the law changed the full-time standard 40 hour threshold to 30 hours, there was no choice if said business owners are to stay in business.
And the liberals in my sphere don’t want to hear it. (I doubt any of them have ever had to really read financials, either. An audit doesn’t count.)
What’s more, they don’t want to use any reason like “ObamaCare” or “Michelle Obama’s lunatic ideas for school lunches” on a grant proposal. It might offend someone, even if it’s the truth.
One of my tasks has evolved into being an ideas and numbers person for the generation and effectiveness of these requests. The numbers on jobs created right now show a net gain thanks to “healthcare” paper pushers, but the number of salaries slashed haven’t begun to be accumulated, leaving me with nothing other than articles on anecdotal stories and friends and family who have been affected. We need hard numbers, and I’m very much afraid that when they start coming in, and the true impact of the law on American life is revealed, the liberals in hunger relief are simply going to bury their heads in the sand and use THIS summer’s cool temperatures, which have delayed local fruit and vegetable crops, and a continuing war in the Middle East that’s driving energy costs up further, as excuses for why Americans cannot afford to buy food. (And, no, we shouldn’t just drill our own oil or frack. NPR says that’s a bad thing.)
Both are contributing factors, but it doesn’t make it the complete truth. The Affordable Care Act will be just as much to blame.
Growing up in a corporate town where big businesses were generous and offered health insurance to their employees as part of a compensation package, was a great thing. Everyone benefited. But it wasn’t forced by government when I was a kid, and the companies could afford it. Assuming small business can do the same and demanding that employers with hourly wage workers provide the same sorts of compensation packages, is ignorance at the highest level – and the people who voted Obama into office will never admit that.
And so, the need for the hunger relief system, including food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens and more, will not only exist, but grow. But we can’t use one of the primary reasons for the entire industry’s existence – excessive taxation and government interference in business – as a justification for requesting help to feed the hungry from the businesses who can afford to give.
No, that would be admitting that socialism doesn’t work.
[insert fingers in ears]
La la la la la la…..
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