Kurt R.A. Giambastiani

Yesterday, over on Facebook, a friend “Liked” a post that Kevin Sorbo made (which is the only reason it came to my attention). Kevin Sorbo? Oh, yeah, that guy.

Curious, I read onward.

In the post, Mr. Sorbo complained of people who put words in his mouth, people who said he resents helping others. To his credit, Mr. Sorbo does much more than the average person—he funds an after-school program that helps thousands of at-risk kids, he speaks before Congress about expanding his program—and for it I applaud him.

Unfortunately, then he launched into a rant about high taxes and how he pays “way more” than his “fair share.” This was followed by a tirade against those in need, in which he painted welfare recipients as whining obese freeloaders who”just feel like being taken care of.”

I pick on Mr. Sorbo because his post came across my desk, but his attitude—that taxes are too high, and that everyone on a government program is a shiftless freeloader—is common on the right, and while I’ve repeatedly countered the “taxes are too high” argument here and elsewhere (they’re essentially as low as they’ve ever been) what really gets my hackles up is this demonization of people receiving government assistance.

Right-wing pundits and neo-con Tea Partyers love to point it out: Welfare rolls have swelled under Obama. It’s true; they have. But if all y’all recall, we had ourselves a little economic meltdown back in ’08, and we’re still digging ourselves out. Does any one of us not know someone affected, someone who lost their job, someone who lost their savings, someone who now makes less than they made before, all while costs have stayed constant or gone up? Is it any doubt that the number of people on government assistance has increased? Isn’t that what we put the systems in place for, to help those struggling at times like this?

But to dehumanize people, to demonize them, is the height of misanthropy. Kevin Sorbo wants to help people, but only the right kind of people, the people he thinks are worthy of help. He helps those people, but everyone else out there is a fat, lazy no-goodnik and he resents every penny sent their way.

Here’s my question: Why is this sort of rhetoric acceptable? Why are we okay with this?

Are there some people who use welfare as a way not to work? Surely there are, just as there are corporations that use government assistance as a way not to pay their employees a living wage or provide health care. Why isn’t Mr. Sorbo griping about those freeloaders? I don’t know, but here are some facts:

• Last year (2012), only 4% of the US population was on welfare.
  • Many more people received food stamps, which is where the “half of America” claims often arise
  • In sheer numbers, this is still only 1/3rd the number of people who were on welfare in 1996
  • More than half (59%) of welfare dollars go to childcare, transportation, work support, education, and training; not as cash assistance.
• 35% of families with dependent children receiving aid have only been on the program for less than a year.
  • More than 50% have been on the program for less than 2 years
  • The recession has been going on for 5 years
• The governments (federal and state) pay less for traditional welfare than they do for corporate welfare
  • Current estimates are that close to $100bn will go to corporate welfare/subsidies
  • In 2010, less than $20bn went to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
  • Add the cost of the Food Stamps program ($73bn) and it’s still less than corporate welfare/subsidies
• If you think that obesity is restricted to the impoverished, the CDC would disagree with you
  • The greatest percentage of obese men (15.7%) have incomes > 350% of the Poverty Income Ratio (PIR)
  • The greatest percentage of obese women (15.3%) have incomes between 130% and 350% of the PIR

America is in a bad spot, right now, with a sluggish economy that only provides benefits for the investor class. People—many people—are still out of work or struggling to get by on downgraded jobs and reduced salaries. Demonizing and humiliating them isn’t going to help.

Thus, my assessment of Mr. Sorbo’s plaint is this: Man up, Hercules.