Walk A Mile In Their Shoes

I recently started a new job now that I am retired (welcome to the new definition of retirement according conniving financial managers and the TeaPublican Party). I can walk to work from my house even though the morning temperatures in New Orleans this time of year make that a very sweaty proposition. As I am walking and perspiring, I pass by a home for homeless men. They are already sitting outside off the parking lot in the heat, looking somewhat like a refugee camp. I am also not that far from the New Orleans Mission, that serves meals for many homeless, some of whom "live" under the 190 BR overpass that goes to the Mississippi River Bridge.

Picking up on yesterday's theme, I wonder what would John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell or any of the other TeaPublican leadership would do or say if they landed at the homeless shelter in some Twilight Zone/Scrooge reversal. Can you imagine the screams of anguish that would erupt from their lips, the claims of how unfair this was, and how they did not deserve their fate? And why doesn't someone do something to help them? Much of the current DC leadership (and the leadership in many states) are insulated from the consequences of their actions, so they never see the damage to individuals caused by their irrational belief in a social philosophy based on greed and self-interest. Our Constitution begins with the words "We the People" with no exclusions. Maybe our political leaders and their advisers need to walk a mile in the shoes of the homeless and destitute, the hungry and the weary, and start doing their job for "We the People," and not just for their Randian overlords. And then pigs will fly.