This is another in a series of responses to my conservative relative’s forwarded emails. If you’re interested, you can read more about how this all started.

Received July 10, 2016 at 3:41 PM:

Lot of truth here…………………….

These three, short sentences tell you a lot about the direction of our current government and cultural environment:

1.) We are advised NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics.

Funny how that works. And here’s another one worth considering.

2.) Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money. How come we never hear about welfare or food stamps running out of money? What’s interesting is the first group “worked for” their money, but the second didn’t.

Think about it….. Last but not least:

3.) Why are we cutting benefits for our veterans, no pay raises for our military and cutting our army to a level lower than before WWII, but we are not stopping payments to illegal aliens such as monthly payments for each child, money for housing, food stamps, free education including college and also the right to vote?

Am I the only one missing something?

My response:

I actually see very little truth here. See my responses inline below in green.

Love,

Begin forwarded message:

Lot of truth here…………………….

These three, short sentences tell you a lot about the direction of our current government and cultural environment:

1.)   We are advised NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. 

These don’t strike me as the same at all. Few people say that all gun owners should be judged by the actions of the few people who do bad things with guns. Most people look at the appalling numbers of crimes that are committed with guns, and how easy it is to get guns in most states, and they talk about some sensible measures that should be put in place to make it harder to get guns or do as much damage with them (universal background checks, closing gun show and Internet loopholes, preventing suspected terrorists from getting guns, limiting the purchase of assault rifles, and limiting the sale of extended magazines). Similarly, as Islamic terrorism has increased, we’ve also put measures in place to try and limit the impact of terrorism here in the US: the US has upped the military intervention in countries that foster terrorism (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, etc.); we’ve increased screenings for refugees seeking asylum; we’ve increased the monitoring of communications and the flow of money to/from known terrorist groups; we monitor individuals inside the US and put people on terrorist watch lists, preventing them from having the same access to flights, etc.; the sale of materials that would be used to make bombs are more closely monitored; and, we increased security at airports and on planes.

Funny how that works. And here’s another one worth considering.

2.)   Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money.     How come we never hear about welfare or food stamps running out of money?  What’s interesting is the first group “worked for” their money, but the second didn’t.  

We hear that Social Security is going to run out of money because of the large number of baby boomers that are/will soon be retiring and the fact that there are fewer current workers per retiree paying into social security than there used to be. However, even the fact that it’s going to “run out of money” isn’t true: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2016/03/11/stop-with-the-zombie-lies-no-social-security-is-not-going-broke/.

The reason that you don’t hear about food stamps or welfare running out of money is that they’re programs that cost far, far less (in 2014, Social Security paid out $714 billion, and SNAP paid out $74 billion – http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/pd/SNAPsummary.pdf). Plus, the costs for SNAP are declining: http://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/snap-costs-and-caseloads-declining. Add to that the fact that Republican legislators are constantly trying (and sometimes succeeding) in cutting welfare and food stamp programs (http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/03/17/3634319/food-stamps-attack-revisited/).

Think about it….. Last but not least:

3.)   Why are we cutting benefits for our veterans, no pay raises for our military and cutting our army to a level lower than before WWII, but we are not stopping payments to illegal aliens such as monthly payments for each child, money for housing, food stamps, free education including college and also the right to vote?  

Cutting of benefits to veterans is often something that’s done by Republicans in Congress (http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/7/20/1404147/-Now-republicans-are-outraged-waving-the-Veterans-flag, http://addictinginfo.org/2016/02/23/gop-cut-funds-for-veterans-and-mental-health-and-now-we-have-a-veteran-suicide-epidemic/). Republicans aren’t the only ones doing this, but the hypocrisy of many Republicans/Conservatives saying that they’re pro-military and then not following through when it comes time to legislate pisses me off tremendously.

There have been military pay raises every year of Obama’s presidency: https://www.navycs.com/charts/ and http://www.govexec.com/pay-benefits/2014/09/one-chart-showing-every-military-pay-raise-last-30-years/94094/, so saying that there’s been “no pay raises for our military” is just a lie.

The military is smaller than in the past, but that’s also because we’re fighting different kinds of battles. We don’t need tons of foot soldiers to fight a ground war, when we have technology (e.g., drones and the like), and when the battles we’re fighting require smaller and more mobile units. As of 2014, we still have almost 1.4 million active military personnel (http://historyinpieces.com/research/us-military-personnel-1954-2014). Seems like plenty to me.

As far as benefits received by illegal immigrants, none of what’s stated above is true. Illegal immigrants are barred from receiving any federal benefits except for emergency medical care. Some states have granted illegal immigrants certain rights and benefits, but that’s a state-by-state choice. Some illegal immigrant family’s *children* receive benefits because they were born here and are therefore American citizens – just like you and me. They’re entitled to go to school and receive benefits (if they qualify for them). Moreover, let’s not pretend that illegal immigrants don’t contribute to the economy or pay taxes (http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2016-03-01/study-undocumented-immigrants-pay-billions-in-taxes).