Pensioner = Entitlement Receiver
Yet astoundingly these older, mostly white men and women who worked in various levels of government tend to back Republicans and even Teabaggers who scream against entitlements with every breath. Let’s remove the hypocritical pensioners, Medicaid recipients and those receiving unemployment benefits from the ranks of those who support the conservative call to end entitlement programs and see how much support remains.
Pensions are draining this country on every level of municipal, state and federal government. Even when former elected representatives are convicted of committing fraud against their constituency we continue to shell over their pension money without legal recourse. The funny thing is that to change this the legislators, elected representatives themselves, must vote to forgo their promise land pension if they commit fraud or a felony. Another clear case of the fox watching the hen house. I believe any representative who would vote against such a bill is one who questions his or her ability to remain clean. It could also be claimed they’re already corrupt and don’t want to lose their pension if caught.
America is grid locked until we give up the pipe dream that legislative officials will police themselves with morality and diligence. Much the same way we are doomed if we do not remove the misconception that corporations will police themselves in the best interest of consumers over shareholder returns.