Grandma's Share

Grandma's Share

by Michael Box

Kibbles and Bits, Blue Buffalo, and Meow Mix are great for cats.  Seeing Grandma eat this stuff drives me bats.  Used to be the Social Security checks came the 3rd of each month, now they put it on a card.  Getting old shouldn't be this hard.

The long months are the worst.  Stretch that fixed income old lady.  Live in fear of starvation or disease. Buy medicine or food?  What to do?

Old Grandma been getting her check for more than fifteen years.  A slicker talked her into putting her saved up money in the market.  They should flay those cheating, thieving, stealing bastards that robbed the Greatest Generation's nest eggs.  That's something to do.

Now the month runs out, take the medicine and hope to live?  Eat cat food because you're a ghost with nothing left to steal or give?  What to do?

There's  no help from Washington.  Senators and Representative are all Koch addicts.  No not coke, cocaine, that would be easy to explain this craziness.  Koch addicts crave  money and curry favor.  Grandma don't count. She'll be too weak to vote anyway.

As though she could vote.  She'd have  to register anew.  I doubt she ever had a birth certificate.   She was born in 1931. You remember, a babe of the Great Depression. 

Damn, she's pissed.  All this greed was fixed.  No more bank failures.  No more economic collapse.  Now they want a birth certificate before she can even get registered.  Before they'll even pretend to listen to her voice. Take a deep breath Grandma.   What to do?

Republicans want to shrink Grandma's share.  Say her load is too much to bear.  Grandma's dream ain't dying the horrid death of poverty, uselessness, or of taking up too much room. Grandma's seen the New Deal, Truman beat the Republicans on Social Security, and the Great Society.  Grandma expected better than this. Now when the fourth week of the month comes, she cries.  Hunger pangs haunt her broken dreams.  What to do?

Personally, I don't give a hang about the Chained Consumer Price Index or its superlative Tornqvist formula.  But that is where the Grand Old Party plans to nickel and dime Grandma out of enough weeks of real food to permanently kick her out of Social Security.

The Koch addicts yearn for the good old days when folks like Grandma just got sick and died without becoming a bothersome burden to the Republicans, and those they serve. 

What to do? 

Talk to Grandma, even if she ain't your Grandma.  These folks got pride, little else.  Be gentle, be kind, and offer a little food, if you've got it. 

Can't go to the state.  Republicans forced all the spending on the states.  States got no  resources.  Talk to Grandma.  Help her get her vote.  Don't let her die the death of being ignored, the death of being bored, or the mute death of not being allowed to speak.  This America remains Grandma's democracy. It ain't just for the rich.  Don't care what the Republicans say.

Grandma deserves her dignity.  Grandma is damn well entitled to it! And that monthly check!  Entitled because her labor paid for it, paycheck by paycheck she paid her dues.  She's got it coming.  Don't care what the Republicans say.

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