When I was nineteen, I was living in a small house with my fiancé at the time, and with two children. We were very poor. It was the first time in my life though, that I truly knew hunger, when we ran out of money and the food stamps were delayed for some reason. I can't really describe the feelings that come with that - the shame that I felt, as a young man who couldn't provide for his family. I was raised to believe that this is a man's task, his role - to provide. To fail in that, not being able to find a job.. well, I felt completely worthless.
We didn't quite starve, but we easily could have, if I had not been willing to break several laws and risk prison and worse. I shoplifted several times - milk, bread, simple things. It reminded of when I had been a young boy, and had put a pack of gum in my pocket at the grocery store, without paying for it. When my parents discovered this, they told me it was wrong - and went into great detail about why and how I should never steal. Tearfully, I returned to the store, handed the gum to the man at the counter, blurted out a sobbing apology, and ran back to the car.
Yeah. It was wrong. I look back on that time, on what I did, and I feel deep shame and regret. Yet when it comes down to it, there is nothing I would not do to feed the people I love. A whole lot of people will do the same.
This is what the failure of our social safety net ultimately means. When given a choice between stealing or starving, almost everyone will steal. Hunger will tame a lion - and the shame that good people will feel when stealing... will not stop them from doing what they must to survive.
I haven't stolen anything in a long time - I haven't had to. I live with my parents now and they're fairly well off - but I will never forget what it was like to be truly, desperately poor.
This, above all things, is what is going to force a coming revolution. The deeper the cuts to our safety net, the more they attack food stamps, heating assistance, rental assistance... the more people are going to steal, or even commit armed robbery. Let's not fool ourselves either, very few of these robberies are going to be like what we see in the video.
This is what it means, ultimately, to me, to be a liberal. It is the belief that a society that CAN provide, has a moral obligation to do so. More than that, it is simply good sense. We can prevent a great deal of crime and live in a much better world simply by sharing what we have.
The rich will not do this voluntarily, which is why it must be forced through legislative authority. With all the conservative Christian talk of willing generosity and charity, they are, overall, some of the least charitable people on earth. If we don't have a social safety net - if we can't provide for the poorest among us, then our society, our Nation, our democracy... deserves to fail.
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