You do not know me Mr. Paul, even though you seem to think you do. You never met me but you seem to think we have met. You must since you talk about me in ways that only someone close to me could. I understand that the way Washington works today there are two ideological sides that cannot seem to give an inch to the other side. I understand that you march out with canned talking points that might generally summarize how you really feel, but what you fail to realize is that when you paint with such a broad brush you inevitably will end up sounding infinitely ignorant when it comes to people you have actually never met.
You do not know that I have worked tirelessly for the past 20 years to help people with disabilities and those least fortunate in our society, even though you infer that I must be a "freeloader" in an "entitlement society." You do not know that I ventured down to Louisiana after hurricane Katrina to help the displaced find employment, even though you believe that I am lazy. You believe in my inherent laziness even though you have no idea why I lost my job after 13 years back in June of 2013. You simply could not know that the government contracts that supplied the soft money that funded my position were eliminated. Yet despite not knowing this, you say that providing me anything more than 26 weeks of unemployment insurance after 20 years of work is doing a "disservice" to me.
Have you ever had to look for a job Mr. Paul? I mean really look for a job. Half of the positions I have applied for have filing periods that are two months long or longer. Does that make me a "moocher?" Am I firmly ensconced in Mitt Romney's 47% in your mind simply because for this brief period of time I am unlucky enough to find myself unemployed? Am I obviously part of Paul Ryan's 47% of takers for the same reason? I understand that you have your talking points and presidential aspirations but do you ever stop to realize there are real people behind your rhetoric? There are real lives you are playing with behind your posturing?
Have you done the math to realize that even at full benefits the $405 per week gained from unemployment merely allows my head to stay above water while my debt mounts? Are you aware that is far from living high on the hog? Do you realize that your insensitive brinkmanship will pull away the only safety net I have? That eventually it may force me into bankruptcy? I know that your talking points tell you that it will force me to "find a job" but the reality is that I am already looking for a job. Your callous decision to pull my benefits, three days after Christmas, will not suddenly make a job offer appear sir. It will only ensure that finding one will be even tougher. But I guess you don't care about that, do you?
Do you realize how despicable it appears when a child of privilege tells the under-privileged in this country that they somehow must be lazy because they cannot find work? When someone who never had to look for work a day in his life suddenly fancies himself an expert on motivating people to find employment? You don't know me sir. You only like to pretend you do so you can score cheap political points in whatever game you think you are playing down there in DC. Put down your broad brush and realize the damage you are going to exact in the lives of real people. Put down your plagiarized talking points and realize that I am not some pawn in your grand chessboard towards 2016. Leadership has to transcend petty politics sir. Actual leadership requires that someone be willing to follow. Who is going to want to follow a heartless man pretending to be magnanimous in the face of the poverty of his own soul? You don't know me Mr. Paul; so stop pretending that you do.
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