Every once in a while I get a great reminder as to what we are doing and why.  I came across a meme on social media today that went on and on about how “the new American lifestyle” is to basically steal $75,000 from government assistance programs.  Being someone who has been, and is currently still in the system I call bullshit, and I called it out on my friends page.  I feel it’s my social obligation as someone who is fighting the system to well, fight the system. For one it is actually pretty hard to get on disability, for two almost nobody gets $600 a month in food stamps (we got $270 as a family of 4), and the abuse in these systems is actually closer to 1%.  It’s all propaganda.  It’s smoke and mirrors to get the mildly poor to blame the extremely poor so they don’t see what’s actually happening behind closed doors.  We spend more on the military than the next three countries combined yet we pay our military personnel the least.  Where does that money go?  Why do our career politicians make over 10x more than the national average?  Do we honestly believe that our politicians (who own stock in big business companies) are honestly going to make decisions that are going to hurt their bottom line regardless of whether they hurt the American public?

It amazes me that we have so many Americans that are going hungry, that have to chose on a daily basis to pay for gas to get to work or feed themselves and their children.  These aren’t the people who work part time, or don’t work at all and just mooch off the government.  These are hard working people, people who work full time jobs and even part time jobs on top of that to make ends meet.  These are people who may have even gone to college.  I know because I was one, I personally know these people, I intentionally know these people.  Yet we still argue that it isn’t their right to demand a living wage.  It’s not ok to want an increase in the minimum wage, but it’s totally ok that your CEO makes 400 times more than you do.  As someone else said “why are we fighting over crumbs”.  Why are we blaming the people below us for our problems?  We are reliving the French Revolution.  C even joked that we should put a guillotine in front of the capital with FEED YOUR PEOPLE written on it. Here is the real question and the real misdirection: why is this issue put on the back burner to more trivial issues.  When I get up to the pearly gates I highly doubt this is what I am going to hear “Hmm, let’s see here, you preached the gospel, supported the issues that involved feeding the poor, and making sure people earned a living wage, you were against corporate greed, but your candidate wasn’t opposed to gay marriage so we really don’t want your kind here.” and if i do, then that’s not where I want to be anyway.  There are STARVING CHILDREN IN OUR COUNTRY who have working parents but once the bills are paid there is nothing left because life is about SURVIVAL.  THIS is what we should be picketing the capital about.  We need to be handing out awards to people to pay their workers a fair wage, or help these families break out of this cycle, not to people who openly discriminate.   The “sanctity of marriage” should be the least of our issues.  How about the sanctity of life?  Wake up America: FEED YOUR PEOPLE!

So what’s our solution?  Once our 5 year plan is done the farm should only need to bring in $1000 a month to pay all the bills and pay us enough to put some in savings, retirement, and college funds.  Anyone we have work on the farm will make at least $15 an hour and all visiting teachers will make half of the class fees. Anything the farm makes over this will be donated to help families in need.  We will sell our products for the same or less than the stores and whatever produce we don’t sell is given away (we even do this now). C wants to run for a political office once we get set up and running well. If he gets elected any pay he receives will also be donated. Our farm is all we need. This is the way life should be. Not hoarding money so you can what? Be better than everyone else?   Own more stuff?  Have people envious of you?  I call bullshit. 

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