I read an insightful post yesterday about leadership from one of our brothers here on Hive. In it, @hazmat asked What Would you Improve if you were President for a Day?, and boy did it germinate some thoughts on just what I would do if I had the chance to lead this great nation. So please check his post out.
Weeding the 'Animal Farm'
You know what? I've actually thought about this before, and it would depend on what type of Government I'd be able to lead. Here in the United States, the President doesn't have the unchecked power that say, the leader of China does. We have a two-party system (really two sides of the same coin), and the side currently in the minority in Congress, says "No" to anything the leader does that might improve the lot of working people, while endlessly approving funds for the military industrial complex (which President Eisenhower warned us about), and endless military adventures in foreign countries.
It's odd to see the instant approval of money for wars overseas, but they voted against the continuation of the child tax credit which helped lift millions of children out of poverty. We always seem to have money to fight someone else's war, but nothing to fight childhood poverty. Can't have anything that reeks of socialism! Unless it's for big business.
So, for me to take on the task mentioned of leading this country, I'd have to have the freedom to rule by decree (which we don't have here). and if I did in this imaginary scenario, I would have a singular focus on the poor.
Some background: Like so many others, I was raised in a single-parent family. Mom struggles raising us and there was never enough of anything to go around, including food. Both my mother (and my absent father), grew up on farms. Him on a farm in Texas, and her in a farm in South Carolina. There they were raised with an independent spirit, and an aversion to seeking help from the government. Even if their kids paid the price for it.
And we did.
I will never forget the burning shame of having to hear my name called, and walking up to the teachers desk in my homeroom to get my free lunch card. All of us were poor, but not everyone needed that card. But those that did had to take that long public walk showing that everyone knew just how poor we really were.
We had it so bad at one point that all we had in the food closet was a box of starch and a pack of margarine. That was all we had to feed me at 9-years-old, my older sibling who was 10, and three much younger kids including a newborn baby. I was so hungry, I'd dream about food. So me and my sister were tasked to bring our free school lunches home each day in order to feed the kids. When no one was looking, I'd carefully wrap my food and store it in a container while pretending I'd actually eaten. Back home, we'd combine our meals, and they would be parceled out to the younger kids first, then us two. We offered mom some, but she always said no.
A "gut" reaction
I begged her to apply for welfare, but that was a dirty word in our house and family, associated with freeloaders, grifters, and drug addicts. It all finally ended one night at church. We had a female pastor at the time (which was novel back then), and I had to read a passage from the Bible. Mine was from the book of John 3:16 (King James version only in our church). So I stood up and read aloud: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
At that crucial moment with they eyes of the entire congregation on me, my empty stomach finally gave up the ghost and let out the loudest and longest groan I'd ever heard in my entire life. Everyone knew instantly what was up as I sheepishly sat down. I'd been trying to hold my stomach in during the service, but it finally protested loudly at not having been filled in some time. We'd been ordered by mom not to let anyone know about our food situation at home, and in that moment, my belly finally blew it.
After church, I tried to sneak out of a side door but was caught by the concerned pastor. She took me aside and asked about our situation. I told her I would get in trouble if I answered, but she assured me she would take care of any trouble with my mom. She knew we had babies at home and I spilled the beans. The first thing she did that evening was took me into the church kitchen and fed me, saying not to worry about eating and being concerned about the family at home having nothing.
Then she went into the basement, and I helped her fill the church van with food. This was taken to my home... The first thing she told my mother was that my stomach had given me away, and that she was not to lay a hand on me for what had happened. Mom was surprised at her actions, but grateful for the food. After a heart-to-heart talk, the pastor told my mom to sign up for welfare, and that's when they had it out, as the "W" word was a no go in our house.
Finally, tiring of it, the pastor told her that if she let her pride get in the way of providing nourishment for her children, she'd report her to children's services in a heartbeat. At that, mom finally relented.
But I was so proud of her. She'd had it drilled into her from childhood that welfare was for lazy people and drug addicts, but I could see that the innocent kids in our household truly needed it. The absent fathers of the children contributed nothing to their upbringing. They made their sperm deposit, and were almost never seen again.
The economy was in a recession that year, but my mom hit the pavement in order to find a job, she wanted to get off welfare that badly. For six months we encouraged her as he went out day after day looking for anything to help her get back on her feet. I can still remember the joy when she finally found a position as a server in a restaurant.
The following week, she called the state department of welfare and told them to take her name off of the list. She did not want to be "on the dole" (as they say in England) anymore. The office was shocked. They weren't used to people asking to get off of welfare, and tried to explain to her that she had more "benefits" coming. But mom was adamant, and was happy when we were removed from the system.
What would Jesus do?
So that cultural shame is something I would work to end when dealing with childhood hunger as the leader of my country. No child should ever have to go to bed hungry in this great nation, and no deserving family should ever have to worry about the stigma attached to needing help to feed their hungry children.
As an American patriot, my focus would be on taking care of our people first before worrying about nation-building overseas. The world bitches about us acting as the policeman for the world, yet keeps dragging us into their wars and demanding assistance whenever they get into trouble.
We have money for foreign aid, but no funds for the child tax credit? Money to spend twenty years fighting a war overseas while "bolstering" their feckless army, but no funds to house homeless veterans. We have money for overseas development and a new lend lease program, but no political will for student loan forgiveness? Fuck that, it's time we looked after our own people and gave the world a break from America nosing ito their business.
Ask yourself, what would Jesus do? He'd help the poor, and that's exactly what I'd do as President. I'd attack the root causes of poverty, and make enemies from the military industrial complex, to big pharma. I'd have a laser focus not on the rich or the upper middle class, but the masses of the poor just trying to survive each and every day. And as an honorably discharged Navy veteran myself, I'd make damn sure that the men and women who served in our military, had a roof over their heads, and were properly taken care of.
