Democrats in the Virginia Senate thankfully shot down a bill
that would have required the screening of welfare recipients for POSSIBLE drug
use and force some to submit to drug tests.[1]
All Democratic senators opposed Senate Bill 721[2]
on a party-line vote, defeating it 20-19. Sen. Harry Blevins (R-Chesapeake) was
apparently away from his desk when the vote took place. At least he wasn’t in
the nation’s capital paying respects to the newly (re-)inaugurated president.[3]
This most recent defeat of this particular type of
legislation marks the second General Assembly session in a row. Democrats have
accused the Republican Party of exploiting the poor for political purposes, but
I think it goes further.
I know this will sound entirely radical but I believe there
is a true disdain for the disadvantaged in this state among some of the
Republican Party legislators; not all, not most, maybe not even many, but at
least a few. I cannot find a better explanation to justify why bills like
Senate Bill 721 would occupy so much of their time, even when political factors
are plugged into to the consideration.
Such a disdain, or at least a lack of sympathy, would fit
perfectly with their belief system. The poor, many conservatives believe, are
in an undesirable economic state because they lack the true spirit of American entrepreneurism:
if you seek the ‘good life’, just work hard. And for some individuals, they’re
right, but not all or even most.
Some individuals, through the sheer misfortune of the
context within which they were born or live, have not been exposed to the same
opportunities, messages of hope and potential for prosperity. And some
individuals were simply born with a mental disability which has stunted their
ability to play the economic game, let alone climb the so-called economic
ladder.
I also believe in individual responsibility and that America
has in many ways moved away from this crucial American belief. But life isn’t
so simple or black and white. Individual responsibility can only take you so
far if you are restricted by the informal and formal rules and norms of society
which break against you like tides on the ocean.
We need room for compassion and understanding. Neither of
which can be found in Senate Bill 721.
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