By limiting certain aid in the COVID-19 relief package to those unemployed because of our response to this pandemic, the Federal government has drawn the bright line of Social Darwinism across the lives of Americans who are or become involuntarily unemployed for all other reasons.
Though Social Darwinism was discredited decades ago, most Americans are Social Darwinists. They think all unemployed Americans are at fault.
By definition, it is "no fault of his own" when a person is laid off. But the people in Washington only give this benefit of the doubt to those laid off due to COVID-19.
There used to be news stories about Americans who'd been involuntarily unemployed so long they'd exhausted their unemployment compensation, and lost their homes and most personal property. Some of these people were victimized by illegal age discrimination, but were too young to get early Social Security as a substitute for unemployment compensation or welfare (thanks to President Clinton's "reform"). These stories are gone.
Americans who ran out of unemployment compensation before COVID-19 are probably worse off than the COVID-19 jobless. Many could be working now. Many could be working remotely. Government at all levels neither counts nor cares about these Americans.
