What does it mean for a nation to be good? What does it look like when a once good nation ceases to be good?
The goodness of a society is determined by how it treats its
most vulnerable citizens. Former Vice-President Hubert Humphrey formulated a
standard by which societies would be measured. “The moral test of government is
how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children;
those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the
shadows of life; the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.”
By that measure, Wyoming is joining America in ceasing to be
good.
In June, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released its annual
assessment of child well-being in the 50 states. Wyoming finished dead last in
the category of kids’ health. We can credit the state legislature for its
near-criminal refusal to expand Medicaid and its mindless slashing of
healthcare and safety-net programs in the state’s budget.
Coupled with a Congressional delegation that unanimously
supports both bludgeoning Medicaid and the most anti-Gospel budget in history, and
it’s not a good time to be “in the dawn of life” in the Cowboy state. Neither
is it a good time to be “in the twilight of life” or “in the shadows of life.”
The Gospel teaches we will be judged by what we do to help
the least of these. State and national politicians are determined to do the
least they can for the least of them, whether they be children, disabled, poor,
or elderly. If you’re hurting, homeless, or hungry, you are in the crosshairs
of the conservatives.
Under cover of a downturn in coal production,
Wyoming legislators turned on poor and low-income families with a vengeance.
First, they deprived 6,000 citizens of a refund of sales and use taxes paid by
the lowest income families. Low-income families have received this refund
annually since 1976. Not even in the darkest days of previous budget crises did
anyone attack this meager benefit, which annually averages just $625 per
household and is provided to those making less than $17,500. Most of these
folks live off little more than a Social Security check.
Legislators didn’t stop there. They slashed a
program designed to assist low-income taxpayers with property taxes. They
targeted the Low Income Energy Assistance Program.
LIEAP funds have long been available to help
low-income families pay high utility bills and the costs of weatherizing their
dwellings, usually among the least well-built or maintained.
They eliminated Medicaid funding for dental
care for the low-income elderly. The cuts that seemed the most petty and
short-sighted were those eliminating the family literacy centers, a program
helping those seeking to help themselves.
They did that while refusing Medicaid
expansion to provide healthcare for 18,000 low-income working families, a move
that would have saved the state enough money that many of the aforementioned
budget cuts wouldn’t have been necessary.
Little wonder Wyoming ranks last in meeting
the needs of child healthcare. It wasn’t an accident.
Adding to the pain, Wyoming families are
under assault from Washington. TrumpCare targets children by ending Medicaid as
we know it while depriving 22 million families of needed healthcare. His budget
slashes food stamps for working people who are paid so little that they
qualify. It slashes Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental
Security Insurance. Rental assistance for a quarter of a million Americans is
eliminated.
If de Tocqueville returned again with a
stopover in Wyoming, he’d see an America on the verge of forfeiting its
goodness, a country increasingly determined to leave behind those in the
dawn of life, the twilight of life, and in the shadows of life.
No comments:
Post a Comment