[nfb-talk] New List for Blind Conservatives

Tue Apr 20 15:06:10 UTC 2010

If you think the SSI check is the reason many blind people don't have jobs, 
you are way, way off.   I doubt there is a significant portion of blind 
people who avoid work because they get a SI check anyway. A few maybe. But 
mostly, blind people are unemployed because it is so difficult to acquire 
skills and to find an employer willing to give you a chance even if you have 
the skills.

I know from dealing with blind people in the Information Technology 
profession that the SSI check is basically meaningless. No blind person in 
the IT profession would deliberately take an SSI check over a real paycheck. 
Yet, blind people in the IT industry face the same difficulties that blind 
people in professions that pay less.  It is a constant struggle to get a job 
and to keep a job. If you think that's due to government paying people to 
not work, you are very much mistaken.

I am a linux systems administrator with 25 years of experience. I've 
literally never been unemployed a day in my life since I got my first job 
out of college. I don't have the slightest urge toward entitlement. I've 
never needed it and I don't want it. But I realize that I've been lucky. A 
lot of people just as talented and as hard working as I am have had to 
depend on the government to get by. For you to attribute that to an 
entitlement mentality is truly insulting.

The truth is that the NFB isn't doing enough to reshape our government. We 
are all in this together. When a blind person fails, we all fail. The USA is 
competing against nations all over the globe and our strength has always 
been our inclusiveness. Right now, we're losing out on what could be a 
tremendous resource, blind people. They're sitting at home drawing SSI 
checks instead of building things.  Conservatives have basically nothing in 
their philosophy or their tool chest to deal with that. If these problems 
are going to be solved, it will be by liberals who aren't afraid to spend 
money on programs that save us money in the long run or to create 
regulations to level the playing field.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Foret jr" <rforetjr at comcast.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2010 10:05 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] New List for Blind Conservatives

> RyanO,
>
> I must publicly applaud you for taking this very long overdue stand for us 
> blind conservatives.  Let me be completely frank here, at perhaps some 
> risk to myself.  For much too long now, I have feared that perhaps the 
> federation was leaning rather too far over to the left.  But why?  It's 
> the entitlement mentality of the SSI check; to put it bluntly.  We poor 
> blind think we can't live without it.  But, the sad truth is, that for 
> many of us, that think is a physical reality.  That is the reason why more 
> of us don't have jobs.  We get punished for trying to start to go to work. 
> When we do, we don't make enough money to live by; and yet, on the other 
> hand, we make too much to receive any help from the socialist security 
> system.  What, there fore, is the sad result?  The sad result is that too 
> many blind individuals adopt leftist socialism because they think that 
> government will "look after us".  IF you just stop and consider for a 
> moment what that really means, you'll see that i
> t goes directly against the grain of true federationism.  It personally 
> hurt me when Joanne Wilson and the rest of us were deceived by the 
> Republican party in or about 2005 when Secretary Spelling wanted to 
> dismantle blind rehab.  Frankly, I felt then and feel still that my fellow 
> conservatives were completely wrong on that score.  They seem to hate 
> political correctness; that is, until it comes to the blind.  That turns 
> my stomach!!!!  It sure doesn't help when any leaders of the federation 
> fail to reach out to conservatives because they feel more comfortable 
> being in bed with the socialist left.  To speak quite candidly, I was 
> sincerely hoping that our fight to get money to convert over to the 
> digital talking book program would have taught the lesson that we cannot 
> afford to ride the back of the tiger for fear of ending up devoured by it. 
> It seems, however, that this is not so.  Now look, just so I am not 
> misunderstood here, I personally couldn't care whether any individu
> al in the federation or on this list is a leftist, a socialist, an extreme 
> right wing person or what ever.  What I do care about is the fact that so 
> long as we do not face up to the fact that we're going to have to figure 
> out a better way to live for ourselves, we'll be looking for that check 
> every month which is supposed to assure us that we're being looked after. 
> I'm just wondering when enough is finally going to be enough.  What I look 
> forward to in this debate is not accusation after accusation, but rather, 
> healthy discussion about how we can rid ourselves of the entitlement 
> mentality and move in to something much better for us.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!!!
>
> Now a proud Mac user!!!!!
>
> E-Mail:
> rforetjr at comcast dot net
> Skype:
> barefootedray
>
> On Apr 19, 2010, at 8:32 PM, RyanO (by way of David Andrews 
> <dandrews at visi.com>) wrote:
>
>> I have been asked to circulate the following:
>>
>> Dave
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> In October, 2008, a fellow Federationist and I were asked to reach out to 
>> the McCain campaign in hopes of persuading a representative to come speak 
>> at our monthly Denver chapter meeting on the topic of disability issues. 
>> We already had a rep from the Obama campaign in the person of one of our 
>> members, who was an official Obama surrogate. After several days of phone 
>> tag, I was informed that the McCain camp would not be sending a 
>> representative to speak to us. The reason I was given was because, "Obama 
>> was just too far ahead on disability issues."
>>
>> I and my fellow conservative blind friends were angry and hurt. We tried 
>> to give both sides equal time and felt we'd been told that we didn't 
>> matter. To that end, I felt I had two options. The first was to quit 
>> being a conservative and jump ship over to the other side. The second 
>> option was to get more actively involved and to make our voices heard on 
>> all levels. Anyone who knows me knows that option one was not an option.
>>
>> To that end, I have created a mailing list called, Brush Fires. It is 
>> primarily for blind conservatives so that we may form a network of 
>> communication and information. Let me stress that everyone is welcome on 
>> this list, no matter what their political stripe may be. In the spirit of 
>> the Federation, I believe that healthy debate and discussion fosters a 
>> more vibrant society for all of its members.
>>
>> Right now, the list is announce only. If we get big enough, I plan to 
>> turn it into a discussion mailing list. For more information, please 
>> Email me at
>> ryano218 at comcast.net
>>
>> Thank you for your time and attention.
>>
>>
>> RyanO
>>
>>
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