Posted by Bob Lord
I have another syndicated op-ed piece up at OtherWords, A Trumped Up War On Welfare.
We're currently seeing the top 1% and their mercenaries attacking mythical welfare recipients, who at most represent the bottom (i.e., neediest) 1% of the population, and may not even exist at all.
Why attack this tiny sliver of the population? Because conservatives are brilliant at messaging. They know that if they can get the 98% in the middle upset about the moochers on welfare, the pressure to address inequality dissipates. People are not equipped emotionally to be angry, simultaneously, at both the safety net beneficiaries whom they believe are living large off their tax dollars and the plutocrats who are systematically stealing from them.