The Government Makes It Harder for the Formerly Incarcerated to Be Good Citizens
The Government Makes It Harder for the Formerly Incarcerated to Be Good Citizens
If rehabilitation is the point of our justice system, government agencies shouldn’t punish people who’ve paid their debt, and who are trying to do the right thing.
Altimont owns Carmen’s Corner Store in Hagerstown, Maryland, a community where around 20 percent of people rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy their groceries. But a federal agency decided that Altimont can never accept SNAP as a form of payment at Carmen’s.
That decision isn’t because Altimont has done anything wrong as a business owner, but rather because of unrelated crimes from 2004, for which he’s already served his time.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) permanently bans anyone with drug, alcohol, tobacco, or firearms convictions from participating in the SNAP program—a harsher punishment than the agency dishes out to those who have actually defrauded the program. That’s not just irrational, it’s also unconstitutional, which is why Altimont teamed up with our organization, the Institute for Justice (IJ), to file a federal lawsuit against the agency on Tuesday.
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You libertarians are so silly. Poverty is almost impossible to escape. No amount of bootstrap-pulling will do it.
Lmao I'm a libertarian because I expect people to not commit crimes and pay their fines....? Holy fuck you people are morons.
No, it's the whole 'just don't be poor' part of what you're saying.
Yes, take steps to not be poor. I did it and anyone else can too. The rest is just excuses.
I did it and anyone else can too.
"I didn't die from cancer, so no one would die from cancer if they just took the right steps and stopped making excuses."
Are you poor?
This isn't about me, nor is that any of your business.
Only on lemmy do people doubt you when you say you were poor. Like "yeah you were poor, but not poor enough"
Maybe if you ever defined 'poor' in terms of income, which you didn't. All I know is that 'poor' to you doesn't include homeless people.
I've been poor. Maybe you are the one who doesn't know what you are talking about then.
Poverty is a disease. It's a myth that anyone can escape it through hard work. You did, if you really were poor and I would love your definition of poor here, because you got lucky.
Were you living in a shack with a tin roof with no water or electricity? Were you living in a tent and eating out of dumpsters? I doubt it.
I'm speaking specifically in the US and we are talking about being poor, not homeless. That is a little different. No one in this conversation is sitting on a pc or phone or laptop from a fucking tent in the Phillipines. Quit moving goalposts to fit your narrative.
Next you are going to say "what about mentally ill, learning disabilities... etc." Not what we are discussing.
sometimes life deals you a shitty hand. other times you screw up without meaning to. and the moment you do, the whole "don't be poor in the first place" rhetoric doesn't matter because you're trapped by the system.
I never said don't be poor in the first place. You are just making shit up. You can not get trapped by the system by being a law abiding citizen.
you can take steps not to be poor but then get screwed over anyways. be it bad luck or an innocent mistake.
Poverty is impossible to escape?!?! You are such a shitty enabler. Wow man. You know how you escape poverty? Staying in school, trying and working. More than 1 job sometimes when it requires it. What a load of BS.
Never had a parking ticket spiral eh?
$85 + $50 dollar waiver fee if you pay and just say you're guilty. OOOOR
$85 fee if you go to court and lose.
Only $95 in the bank.
Well shit, $50 bucks lets you pay rent, so you take the time. But you have to get exacty $10 of gas, you get to the courtroom, do your best and lose. You gotta pay $85 dollars, and so you do -- except the bank fucked you when you went to got gas, they haven't processes that yet, and the courtroom requires a mandatory $2.95 "convenience fee" so they don't have to take a check... So you pay, and the bank processes your payments dutifully, smallest to largest, but now you're in the hole for $105.
Rent is still coming next week, and you're lucky it's only $300 cause you share a 3 bedroom and sleep on the couch.
To make the $300 dollars you gotta work 2 jobs, because Wallmart makes sure you don't get the full 35 hours each week to qualify for benefits, and McDonalds only calls you to pick up the teenagers shifts on Fridays.
But wait, you're -105 in the bank, so you gotta go call up a bunch of people you know and bug everyone at McDonalds to see if you can cover their shifts. Finally you manage to scrape together 55 hours to pay your rent... but you get dinged on your mobile bill in the middle of that week, and you're out another 40 dollars. You can't cancel the mobile phone since it's your only phone, and hell entertainment, you can't afford a TV or a Netflix plan, that shit's for the rich. You can't even afford to eat where you work...
Finally you get home, after working 7 days of 8 hour shifts you managed to scrape together (4 at wallymart and 3 at mcdonalds) and your bank account is empty, you don't have any money for food, and your snap benefits keep getting denied because you live in a red state...
So you watch youtube shorts, and tiktok doom scroll and try and forget you're hungry....
(I hope my landlord will let me give them 260 until I can cover the rest...)
You must save a lot of money on dental bills because you have your head shoved so far up your own ass you can see the back of your teeth. Get fucked.
He seems like he might be a bit of a classist dummy
I save a lot of money because I have dental insurance. Lol. Fuckface.
You really don't know how expensive it is to be poor, do you? There's fees on top of fees on top of fees if you can't pay on time or the whole amount at once. The idea of "just don't be poor" doesn't really work. It's like saying if you want to be a billionaire, why aren't you? Just do it.
I was poor. I'm not poor anymore. I went to college, 9/11 happened, went to the military immediately after college, paid off my college via the military, got into IT having never went to college for the field, killed myself to learn, worked 60+ hours for 8 years to excel in the field, now I'm comfortable. I'm working on being a millionaire first ;)
"went to college" Lmao GTFO
Also it was a tech school not a university. Pretty affordable and fast track to a job.
Yep grants work and my single mother cosigned for the rest. Hard to imagine when you are lazy and can't do anything for yourself, I know. Got half paid when I joined the military the rest I paid after tho you could go to the miliary first to get there as well , if you weren't all soft as baby shit, that is.
Lmao. I was an Infantryman in OIF 1. Go tell it to a pogue. And you got family to pay for you. That's what Co Signing is.
I was poor. I’m not poor anymore.
"It's not a problem for me, so therefore it can't be a problem for anyone"
You... do realize how fucking stupid that sort of "logic" is right? Other people are allowed to have different experiences.
It's not stupid, it's proof that people can do it. You all just want "poor me" instead of taking accountablility and responsibility for your own situations. ANYONE who doesn't have a physical deformity or extremely low IQ can join the military and pick a job that doesn't involve getting your face blown off to get out of poverty. ANYONE. You guys are full of excuses.
Nothing you said contradicts what I said, and is correct.