Why Politics should matter to the Special Needs Community.

It goes without saying that this year's political arena has been a mockery of what our country was founded upon.No doubt that the founding fathers of this great country are most likely turning in their respective graves as they watch from the hardened earth,  just how comical the Presidential Race has become. I say comical not in the funny hahahahha way, but in a way clowns can bring an element of sadness to their routines. In the past couple of months, we have seen the debates, where penis size has been discussed, wives have been discussed and how to make sure the everyday working man doesn't get sucked into debt while the rich live happy lives or how a student is supposed to pay for their education. There has been the discussion of Welfare and most importantly, Healthcare, but to some of the candidates, making sure the citizens of this country are taken care of is low on the priorities list.

For the most part, in my rants, I have kept a quiet tongue when it comes to politics. Politics has the ability to bring out the worst in people, but it needs to be talked about when you have politicians out there who don't care about the people they are supposed to serve and the job they were elected to do. I know you ask, so what does politics have do with the special needs community. Well, lots actually.

Let's start with healthcare. For us in the special needs community, healthcare is a big one. So many of us have loved ones that require extra medical attention. If we can't afford to pay our medical bills, our love ones suffer. If programs that help our loved ones are cut, thanks to budget cuts, there are no services provided that would help our loved ones out. Even with insurance ( and that is another post entirely), we still have to fight the system to just get basic medical attention, that doesn't even cover the extra trips to a specialist your loved one has to see on a regular basis. Look, I know that not everyone was thrilled with Obamacare. It has it's issues and kinks to work out, but if it meant that your medical bills wouldn't be as high as they normally would be, or you would be able to get the services you need to get treatment or even the medication at low cost. Or how about defunding clinics that provide low cost healthcare to those who can't afford the insurance premiums. So when you have a government that wants to take all of that away and or take short cuts to save money, that is when politics start to matter to the special needs community. I am not going to get into the lack of medical attention our service members get in regards to their medical needs. Let's face it cutting costs to programs that help the Veteran's medical well being only makes you look like an asshole.

Education, another big one for the special needs community. It is safe to say that most of us, who are already shelling out money for healthcare, aren't going to be able to send our children the top notch private schools this country has to offer, even with scholarships and such, it is still expensive. So a lot of us rely on our public education system to provide a decent education to our children, special needs or not. So when you are looking at cut backs to this system, the quality of education tends to lower. Teachers can't teach if they don't have the resources to teach with. Even with common core, that is simple math. Teachers can't teach their students when the school is falling down around them either. So when you have governments making cut backs in Education, the youth of this country suffers. For us in the Special Needs Community, it means that the programs that are put in place to ensure our children can learn are normally the first to get hit hard by the impact of budget cuts. Not saying that our children aren't important, but there are fewer Special Education classrooms than there are mainstream classrooms. Low man on the totem pole is always going to get hit the hardest. I could talk about when our children graduate, there is the possibility of them going to university. Its going to take them half of their lifetime to pay off student loan debt.

The everyday person. Most of us are not rich nor do we have a tree in the backyard that grows money. It is expensive to live. Food, house, car and utilities. For the special needs community we have added expenses, all of them are out of pocket. Gas for our cars to get back and forth from medical appointments. Special diets because our children get sick from eating processed food. Medical supplies. Paying for respite care, just so we can have a breather and not worry about our children for an hour or so. How does politics factor into that? Well it comes down to taxes. The average person pays more taxes than say a person like Trump. Banks got too big in their britches with tax breaks as did a lot of other corporations and because of this the lower and middle class families got hit hard with very little relief. Most of us in the special needs community, we fall into the lower to middle class and trying to balance a budget, when it's stacked against us is damn near impossible. I am willing to bet dollars to donuts, that we all have some sort of debt hanging over our heads. Now I am not saying that the government needs to start with hand outs but it does need to take responsibility for making the rich fat.

Again, I normally don't like to get political on my page or really on my blogs, as it creates the perfect shitstorm. As I sat back and watched a Candidate, who is known for mocking the disabled, spewing out racist, sexist and homophobic rhetoric all to insight violence, become the head of a political party, I felt that I couldn't be silent anymore. This election has been an eye opener in so many ways, but the real impact of it all, is how will the next POTUS impact the welfare of my children. So far it looks bleak. I am a liberal thinker, yes, but I feel that with everything going on, I need to voice my concerns I have concerning the political arena that is unfolding before my eyes. I know that not everyone is going to agree with me. Again, politics is a subject that brings out the worst in people. Whether or not Trump taps into your inner racist or Sanders taps into your inner hippie, it should be said that whatever Candidate gets the job needs to open minded enough to not mock those with disabilities, be aware of the job they are supposed to do, which is to serve the people who elected them in. I shall wait with abated breath to see what is in store for us come November and which Congressman I have to write to when the system goes down in flames, only to be ignored.