Politicians and the Poor

 footsteps to the workhouse

Our presidential candidates are all rich , privileged men and women with no knowledge of  real life. If they ever lived down among the real human beings they have long since forgotten.

When Scrooge was asked to donate to the poor, he told the charity collectors that the poor had their "safety nets" of the day.
The photo to the right is a memorial in Ireland to the barefoot poor and their children who made the final trip to the awful workhouses when money finally was gone. Once there parents and children were separated mostly forever.
In this memorial a woman and her child's footprints are seen.

‘Are there no prisons?”
‘Plenty of prisons,’ said the gentleman, laying down the  pen again.’And the Union workhouses.’ demanded Scrooge. ‘Are  they still in operation?’
‘Both very busy, sir.’
‘Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,’ said Scrooge. ‘I’m very glad to hear it.’
‘Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,’ returned the gentleman, ‘a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?’
‘Nothing!’ Scrooge replied.
‘You wish to be anonymous?’
‘I wish to be left alone,’ said Scrooge. ‘Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don’t make merry myself at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned-they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.’
‘Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.’
‘If they would rather die,’ said Scrooge, ‘they had better  do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

The rich live in ivory towers and have little in common with the rest of mankind.


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