From a quick glance at my résumé, you might think me an older, female version of Vance. I was born in Appalachia in the 1960s and grew up in the small city of Newark, Ohio. When I was 9, my parents divorced. My mom became a single mother of four, with only a high school education and little work experience. Life was tough; the five of us lived on $6,000 a year.
Like Vance, I attended Ohio State University on scholarship, working nights and weekends. I graduated at the top of my class and, again like Vance, attended Yale Law School on a financial-need scholarship. Today, I represent people who’ve been fired illegally from their jobs. And now that I’m running for Congress in Northeast Ohio, I speak often with folks who are trying hard but not making much money.
A self-described conservative, Vance largely concludes that his family and peers are trapped in poverty due to their own poor choices and negative attitudes. But I take great exception when he makes statements such as: “We spend our way into the poorhouse. We buy giant TVs and iPads. Our children wear nice clothes thanks to high-interest credit cards and payday loans. We purchase homes we don’t need, refinance them for more spending money, and declare bankruptcy. . . . Thrift is inimical to our being.”
Who is this “we” of whom he speaks? Vance’s statements don’t describe the family in which I grew up, and they don’t describe the families I meet who are struggling to make it in America today. I know that my family lived on $6,000 per year because as children, we sat down with pen and paper to help find a way for us to live on that amount. My mom couldn’t even qualify for a credit card, much less live on credit. She bought our clothes at discount stores.
Thrift was not inimical to our being; it was the very essence of our being.
With lines like “We choose not to work when we should be looking for jobs,” Vance’s sweeping stereotypes are shark bait for conservative policymakers. They feed into the mythology that the undeserving poor make bad choices and are to blame for their own poverty, so taxpayer money should not be wasted on programs to help lift people out of poverty. Now these inaccurate and dangerous generalizations have been made required college reading.
[Bolding added]
I am fucking foaming at the mouth with this shit. Every study, every test, and nearly every fucking holy book shows and says, help the poor. It is worth your while. Their very own messiah was built off of helping the poor and going against norms. Its so incredibly asinine.
Their very own messiah was built off of helping the poor
Whoa! I don't think you're knowledgeable enough about Supply Side Jesus to make such scurrilous accusations. /s
This needs to be FRONT AND CENTER at the VP debate. Trump did this shit with his bullshit fake assistant crap, and this guy did it through this bullshit.
The fact that this guy hates thrift stores tells you all you need to know about him
I mean, in addition to worshipping Hitler
If you're from the Midwest and don't call it THE Ohio State University you've immediately lost my trust. And I didn't even go there.
As someone from Ohio (not near Columbus), I can't stand those assholes. I like the school, but their football fans are intolerable
Fair point. I wonder what the weather is like up there on those high horses
Are there tolerable football fans?
As a Columbus transplant we all hate them. Good university, massive pain in the ass to live near, worst part of town to try to do anything in, fucking football fans…
As an alumni of Ohio University who lives in Columbus my favorite thing to call them is OS-Who
I've lost count of the amount of times I've been asked, "you're from Ohio? Why aren't you an Ohio state fan?"
Anecdotally, every bar fight I've almost been in has been with ohio state fans. One was when Marcus mariotta got hurt in the championship game and the bar I was at erupted in cheers and I called them out for being dick heads. The other was when a guy in an Ohio state shirt approached me and told me I needed to, "get my bitch on a leash" referring to my wife.
I actually enjoy watching them play football, their fans just fucking suck so bad
I accidentally wore a wolverines starter jacket around Columbus for a week one winter while I was on a business trip. Couldn't figure out why the waiters were all so curt with me until one of the locals made a comment on the job site.
In retrospect it's a miracle I didn't get accosted by a season ticket holder.
I’m not from the states, why is the “The” important?
Many states have multiple universities named after them, so you can have university of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania state university.
Ohio state used to be " the ohio mechanical and agricultural school" when they were founded. They changed their name to "the Ohio state university" when they became a university. They were competing with "Ohio university" to be the main big state school, so the tried to emphasize it with "the" prounced with the long e (thee). It's become a bit of a meme since then. No one really cares but it's a funny thing for them to embrace and everyone else to make fun of.
That’s pretty funny, I never thought there’d be multiple universities using the state’s name!
What if I don’t call it that because it’s THE most annoying part of one of my favorite cities and it’s really fun to piss them off.
He's an Ivy League educated social climber who hobnobbed with Peter Theil and lawmakers before he got famous writing a book where he cosplayed as a poor person so he could tell rich people exactly what they want to hear about poor people
I am fucking foaming at the mouth with this shit. Every study, every test, and nearly every fucking holy book shows and says, help the poor. It is worth your while. Their very own messiah was built off of helping the poor and going against norms. Its so incredibly asinine.
Whoa! I don't think you're knowledgeable enough about Supply Side Jesus to make such scurrilous accusations. /s
This needs to be FRONT AND CENTER at the VP debate. Trump did this shit with his bullshit fake assistant crap, and this guy did it through this bullshit.
The fact that this guy hates thrift stores tells you all you need to know about him
I mean, in addition to worshipping Hitler
If you're from the Midwest and don't call it THE Ohio State University you've immediately lost my trust. And I didn't even go there.
As someone from Ohio (not near Columbus), I can't stand those assholes. I like the school, but their football fans are intolerable
Fair point. I wonder what the weather is like up there on those high horses
Are there tolerable football fans?
As a Columbus transplant we all hate them. Good university, massive pain in the ass to live near, worst part of town to try to do anything in, fucking football fans…
As an alumni of Ohio University who lives in Columbus my favorite thing to call them is OS-Who
I've lost count of the amount of times I've been asked, "you're from Ohio? Why aren't you an Ohio state fan?"
Anecdotally, every bar fight I've almost been in has been with ohio state fans. One was when Marcus mariotta got hurt in the championship game and the bar I was at erupted in cheers and I called them out for being dick heads. The other was when a guy in an Ohio state shirt approached me and told me I needed to, "get my bitch on a leash" referring to my wife.
I actually enjoy watching them play football, their fans just fucking suck so bad
I accidentally wore a wolverines starter jacket around Columbus for a week one winter while I was on a business trip. Couldn't figure out why the waiters were all so curt with me until one of the locals made a comment on the job site.
In retrospect it's a miracle I didn't get accosted by a season ticket holder.
I’m not from the states, why is the “The” important?
Many states have multiple universities named after them, so you can have university of Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania state university.
Ohio state used to be " the ohio mechanical and agricultural school" when they were founded. They changed their name to "the Ohio state university" when they became a university. They were competing with "Ohio university" to be the main big state school, so the tried to emphasize it with "the" prounced with the long e (thee). It's become a bit of a meme since then. No one really cares but it's a funny thing for them to embrace and everyone else to make fun of.
That’s pretty funny, I never thought there’d be multiple universities using the state’s name!
What if I don’t call it that because it’s THE most annoying part of one of my favorite cities and it’s really fun to piss them off.
Sincerely, A graduate of AN Ohio state university