By AATTP Contributor, Han Chimpson
Stacey Campfield, a Republican (what else?) state representative from Tennessee, recently introduced a bill in his state that would cut welfare benefits (TANF) for poor families if their school-aged kids do not meet certain academic standards. If they fail to do so, families could see their welfare benefits cut by as much as 30%.
Campfield has a long history of wingnuttery. He famously claimed about a year ago that AIDS started when a gay man had sex with a monkey and further claimed that it is “virtually impossible” to contract AIDS through heterosexual sex. And he once introduced a bill that would require death certificates for aborted fetuses. And what seals his certified wingnuttery credentials was his proposed bill that would ban teachers from teaching about homosexuality in public schools.
Thankfully, none of those bills got very far, even in Tennessee. And it is unlikely that this one will either. There are a myriad of things wrong with this bill. Why are only poor children being singled out to perform well academically, otherwise their families will suffer? What kind of pressure does that put on little Billy to do great on his spelling or math test, otherwise his family may have their welfare money slashed, and struggle to find a means to eat or pay bills? What about the fact that some of these kids, through no fault of their own, have learning disabilities, a poor environment to study in, go to poorly performing schools, go to school hungry, and numerous other possible circumstances?
Campfield’s bill is reflective of an attitude in our country that not having money equals having moral and personal shortcomings. Hence why politicians like him frequently try (and sometimes succeed) to pass laws stating that people on welfare have to pass drug tests and meet other incentives. The majority of the people on welfare are in fact children, elderly, and able-bodied people working in poor-paying jobs. Many of them have had some misfortunes in their lives for no other reason than a bad roll of the dice. It is an insult to their dignity to have a bunch of incentive-based laws in place just so they can get help with food, clothing and shelter.
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Progressive Populist
Quick google search shows a FreedomWorks event featuring Stacey Campfield.
I would say, yes.
::Sigh:: “Please, sir, may I have some more?”
Stacey Campfield, one more “might-makes-right” fool who wants children to learn the “virtue” of “clawing their way to the top,” regardless of others’ suffering! Whose fault is it that he, himself, was no doubt brutally handled and brainwashed from early childhood to think that way? Pay attention, parents, (and Arne Duncan) to whether the next generation is learning to love or to hate the pervasive, institutionalized “classism” that tends to enslave and embitter us all! The seeds of endless war and hate are in our nursery rhymes and schoolbooks!
Who will clean them up? MY version of Aesop’s old classic “Ant & Grasshopper” morality story –the one that’s still used to justify keeping some folks down– would end very differently: I’d have the grasshopper realize that ants EAT grasshoppers, recognize that (having fiddled all summer for the ant’s entertainment) he was EQUALLY ENTITLED to survive the winter, get mad, pick up an AK-47 and BLOW THAT NASTY, SELF-RIGHTEOUS ANT AWAY! –Making for a more explosive, but LESS DEADLY lesson!
@ Carole KronbergLove it!!! Your Aesop’s morality is on time…. People fail to realize that grasshoppers under the right circumstances become predators..
Hummm….notice he didn’t say “If you don’t make good grades, we will tax your family 30% more” to the 53 percenters.
To truly understand the conservative ideology is to comprehend lunacy in its natural, untreated state. The issue before us isn’t Fox News or Rush Limbaugh or any other single conservative organization or individual. What’s so very wrong with this Fox is not just endemic to that 4th Reich propaganda outlet, but to the entirety of conservatism the world over! Conservatism is lunacy. To cling to the notion of an unchanging status quo in any society is totally irrational and at odds with the fundamentally dialetic nature of the universe. There is but one constant in this universe- CHANGE. Those who would attempt to stop and freeze human development in any capacity whether social, political, cultural, or technological are delusional in their capacity to understand the fundamental nature of our reality.
This delusional comprehension of reality leads to conservatism ALWAYS being on the wrong side of history. Take any conflict, any war in say the last 1000 years for example. What army in the conflict was on the side of history, justice, greater equality, and democracy? “Not the conservative forces” you say? Let me feign surprise. From century to century, epoch to epoch, nation to nation, it’s ALWAYS the conservatives, reactionaries, and fascists that are WRONG. Their existence may be irrational, but then so is their mission as they see it. Don’t look now conservative sociopaths, the earth moves beneath you.
Well stated.
Very well put.
Are you sure this man is from TN? I am from TN and he is more than a embarrassment to the state and the people that call it home. He should shut up or get kicked out of office. I am neither republican or democrat I believe the best man or woman should be in office not their party. If I was in this guys party I would see about getting him the hell out of office,quick and in a hurry!
He’s actually a transplanted Yankee from New York. Not sure what brought him to Knoxville, or even if he has a real job other than little important state representative…
Maybe he lives in TN, but I doubt he is FROM TN….my husband was born and raised in TN and he would kick this loser’s butt for even suggesting children should go hungry for ANY reason! Tennessee folks are country folks, and the first, most important thing to them is FAMILY, most especially their children! This guy, Stacey whathisname, is a moron!
Well, after coming up with all these crack-pot bills I am HOPING the people of TN realize what a worthless POS this guy is and remove him from office at the next election. Should he be re-elected then that doesn’t say much about the ethical and intelligence levels in TN. That said, despite HIS many, shall we say “interesting” votes….Justin Amash was re-elected in Michigan. I can’t fathom how any person with two brain cells to bump together could vote for a man who voted to eliminate heating assistance to the elderly and advocated turning their power off in the dead of winter after one late payment….
I SO agree with Terry! I’m from TN and ashamed that a fool like this is a leg is
actor and allowed to spew his crap. Kick him to the curb!!!!
This man is more than a wing nut. He has no children. Never been poor. But now he is making the child responsible for whether the family eats or not…. I seen his interview on MSNBC today and felt like vomiting. He could not defend his position on the simplest of terms. I hope that the american people’s uproar will answer the simple question of who made him an expert on parenting without raising one child. This creature has no children and never has any and now speaking with authority on how to insure children will get good grades. Just make them go hungry. Just take their medicaid money away from the parents and that would make them get good grades. God only knows what goes on in some children reason of why they get bad grades. But increasing the possibility of them going hungry will insure that fact… Too compound the stupidity of this reasoning, he actually made an off subject statement to the effect that if the POTUS can make decisions on legislation with no personal relationship, so why can’t he make decisions like this on children in his state ever though he don’t have any children.. It is the same thing he said. No, it is not, this is the same mixture of apples and oranges reasoning that these stupid ring wing nuts get into that continue to be beyond moronic in the simplest of comparison. A sickness beyond moronic proportions that has afflicted him and others like the Paul family and the Tea Baggers that still believe that just because our president is Black they don’t need to be elected by “we the people” to be POTUS to make presidential decisions. What is our country coming to on the state level is enough to frighten the strongest of supporter of equal rights for all. But these nuts have lost their political minds. Then to,these are some of the same off springs of those that believe that slavery and the mixture of races would be the end of America… Now putting the responsibility of being a bread winner on the shoulder of 5 and 6 year olds…God bless America and bless them for they have loss all their common sense……
I’m disabled now, but back when I worked there was a guy in my office -no children- who was always telling me and others how we should raise our children. Well I’d do this… or .. I wouldn’t put up with that! His answer for almost every teenage mistake was kick them out of the house. He was a self-righteous puke just like this guy.
Then he goes on Martin Bashir and says that these are very low standards – just having to pass your grade. “They don’t have to be Rocket Surgeons.” Yes, he said “Rocket Surgeons.” Brillant.
what do you expect from the despicable POS… his own edumacational goals set the bar so high as to get him so far as to be a real estate agent. Yes Stacey, you are to be counted among the rocket surgeons of Tennessee.
Does this guy actually identify himself as a tea party member, or is the headline just hyperbole?
Didn’t they recently try to sell us the BS that they are the compassionate party? I guess they don’t expect political contribution (read bribe) from people on assistance.