Welfare queen

[[File:Ronald Reagan at a press conference in 1976.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Reagan popularized the term during his 1976 presidential bid.]]
{{cquote|We don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls able-bodied people to lives of dependency and complacency.|||[[Paul Ryan]]... who paid for his university education [[hypocrite|by]] living off his father's [[Social Security]] benefits.<ref>Krugman, Paul (March 6, 2014). [http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/opinion/krugman-the-hammock-fallacy.html "The Hammock Fallacy"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>}}
{{uspolitics}}
"'''Welfare queen'''" was one of many [[Trees cause pollution|dumb terms]] coined by [[Saint Reagan]], this time to refer to people who scam the [[government]] through the [[welfare]] system to live easy on [[tax]]payer money without trying to work. Reagan gave a very memorable speech in 1976 which described a welfare queen drawing an easy living by scamming veteran's benefits and [[Social Security]] benefits from four (fake) dead husbands, as well as using eighty different aliases. The closest case to the one he described was of a single woman who scammed the government out of $8,000,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120305222116/www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0309.mendacity-index.html The Mendacity Index], Washington Monthly</ref> and who, upon further investigation, wasn't emblematic of welfare users in general.<ref>[http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2013/12/linda_taylor_welfare_queen_ronald_reagan_made_her_a_notorious_american_villain.html The Welfare Queen], ''Slate''</ref> ''Whoops'' (also, welfare fraud was probably the ''least'' evil crime she committed, since she was also suspected of kidnapping and murder). 

This, as well as Reagan's talk of "[[states' rights]]", using coded phrases such as "strapping young buck", describing the [[Voting Rights Act]] as "humiliating to the South", intervening on the side of [[Bob Jones University]] (which was on the verge of losing its [[tax-exempt]] status because of its ban on [[Miscegenation|interracial dating]]), and firing three members of the {{wpl|Civil Rights Commission||,}} was not at all aimed to [[Southern Strategy|appeal to Southern racism]], and anyone who tells you otherwise is [[Red-baiting|a dirty commie]]!<ref>Krugman, Paul (November 10, 2007). [http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/innocent-mistakes/ "Innocent mistakes"]. ''[[The New York Times]]''.</ref>

[[Stereotype|Stereotyping]] welfare recipients is an easy way to convince voters to reduce or get rid of these programs. It also has the benefit of [[appeal to emotion|manipulating the very people]] who benefit most from these programs into supporting their elimination (ironically the vast majority of welfare recipients live in [[red state]]s).<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-11-05/republican-heavy-counties-eat-up-most-food-stamp-growth Republican-Heavy Counties Eat Up Most Food-Stamp Growth], ''Bloomberg''</ref> Observational evidence indicates that increasing state welfare support through increased spending is associated with increased social engagement, and, in particular, increased desire and willingness to work.<ref>[http://wes.sagepub.com/content/29/1/99.abstract The bigger the worse? A comparative study of the welfare state and employment commitment], Kjetil A van der Wel, Work Employment & Society February 2015 vol. 29 no. 1</ref> But who cares about the evidence and quality of life when it conflicts with your ideology?

==Modern usage==
Today, "welfare queen" has evolved into a more general version of [[dog whistle politics]] against the new [[evil]] of "[[Entitlement program|entitlements]]." While there are always going to be fraudsters and other people who badly abuse such programs, given the difficulties that private insurers of all kinds seem to have with the exact same problem (and openly advertise the fact that they increase ''your'' rates to deal with it) the only obvious difference would seem to be whether everyone else makes up for it in taxes to the government or premiums to insurance companies (or similar).

It plays very well into pitting people of different [[social class|classes]] and [[race]]s against each other.  Race resentments very much factor into this, since only ''certain'' kinds of people (disadvantaged minorities) are portrayed as living on welfare.<ref>[http://www.marial.emory.edu/pdfs/wp016_02.pdf Soccer Moms, Welfare Queens, Waitress Moms, and Super Moms: Myths of Motherhood in State Media Coverage of Child Care], Emory University</ref> Many opponents of welfare use the welfare queen [[stereotype]] as a way to rile up members of the lower middle class and [[working class|working]] [[poor]] against those on welfare/unemployment/Social Security/[[Medicaid]] benefits.  This is by making [[PIDOOMA|wild claims]] that welfare queens are living "high on the hog" while the poor folks have to work hard to barely scrape by.<ref>For instance, a ''[[Daily Mail]]'' front page from April 3, 2013, as [http://www.digitalspy.com/media/news/a470224/daily-mail-mick-philpott-welfare-uk-front-page-sparks-outrage.html reported by Digital Spy]</ref>

Notably, "welfare queen" is almost never used to refer to those who most deserve the label: the largest [[Irony|Republican-friendly]] [[Corporate_welfare|corporations]].<ref>[http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/21228-americas-real-welfare-queens America's Real Welfare Queens]</ref>

==Plastic surgery==
One argument that popped up in the [[Obamacare|health care]] debate<ref>[http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2009/08/31/welfare_wedge The return of the welfare queen], ''Salon''</ref><ref>[http://timeonhands.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/why-repeal-obamacare/ WHY REPEAL OBAMACARE?] (Interesting name for a blog, too.)</ref> is that people on Medicaid get free [[medical]] care on your dime, using purely the example of the documented rates of "plastic surgery" for Medicaid patients, while poor folks pay an arm and a leg to wait forever to see a general practitioner.  What [[Lying by omission|was not said]] is that the term "plastic surgery" in a hospital includes covered procedures for the replacement of skin for burn patients and rebuilding of parts removed for [[cancer]] surgery (such as breast reconstruction after mastectomies).  Medicaid (and every other insurance) has never covered any purely cosmetic surgery, and you'll find the same [[Universal health care|around the world]]<ref>Take Canada, for example: {{cite web |url=http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/prb0552-e.htm |title=Private Health Care Funding and Delivery Under the Canada Health Act (PRB 05-52E) |date=28 December 2005}}</ref>  — but apparently it's difficult for [[Republican]]s to do research.

==The real welfare aristocracy==
A few bucks on welfare is nice and all, but where does all that money get spent? [[Wal-Mart]] took in 13 billion dollars in revenue from foodstamps in 2013.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-traub/walmart-food-stamps_b_5087262.html Food Stamps Don’t Keep Walmart’s Prices Low, They Keep Its Profits High] From HuffPo. I'm sorry.</ref>

==See also==
*[[Benefit scrounger]]
*[[Corporate welfare]] — or maybe welfare dragons
*[[Entitlement program]]
*[[PIDOOMA]]

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Conservative deceit]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]
[[Category:Political terms]]
[[Category:Racism]]
[[Category:Sexism]]
[[Category:Snarl words]]
[[Category:United States politics]]

Categories: Conservative deceit, Neologisms, Political terms, Racism, Sexism, Snarl words, United States politics