Things that shouldn't happen in a rich state (Day 6)

On this date, we have families in desperate need of shelter sleeping in the baggage area of Logan Airport. If you had told me thirty, forty years ago that I would be writing this in 2024, I wouldn't have believed you. But here we are.

A few weeks ago, I participated in a rally at the statehouse to protest budget cuts to cash assistance for those experiencing the deepest poverty. In case you didn't know, those generally include children, the elderly, and the disabled. Or as I like to think of them, the most vulnerable among us.

The backdrop to this includes a tax relief plan that this administration passed--after the Fair Share referendum was voted in. The campaign to get the referendum on the ballot took almost a decade, and supporters barely had time to catch their breaths before the tax relief end run was announced. 

Did I mention that the governor in power now is a Democrat? Perhaps I should also remind you that I am writing from the allegedly Deep Blue state of Massachusetts. 

It doesn't matter.

It's hard not to contemplate parents freezing with their young children at Logan and other parents struggling to buy diapers for their children, while holding the reality of what a voter referendum is really good for, and not remind myself what the definition of insanity is. 

As I read Revolutionary Spring: Europe Aflame and the Fight for a New World, 1848-49 by Christopher Clark, it's difficult not to see the parallels between that time and now. I don't know what will spark a modern clash--and at this point I believe it can be avoided--but if those in power continue to be callous, it won't take much.

Deb in the City