Cheap Shots

The local political election season is clearly under way. Evidence the salvo of attacks against the welfare system and Child Protective Services.

In the minds of certain politicians and their cynical advisers, attacking the weak is a highway to success at the polls. To be more blunt about it, if you want to get your name in the paper, take a cheap shot against welfare recipients. Call them frauds. That’s always good for a headline.

Of course, if you feel your potential constituents would not like an attack on welfare, you can take a different cheap shot and accuse social workers of snatching children from innocent parents. That’s a real good one because then you have an image of defending families. If, on another hand, you want to take a different tack, how about attacking social workers because they don’t protect innocent children who have been brutalized or molested?

By the way, you don’t have to stop with welfare or CPS. Find the government agency of your choice, attack it with as much vitriol as possible and you get name recognition.

Remember, this avoids problems for you as a politician. You don’t have to offer any kind of solution to any problems. You don’t have to design or devise any programs.

Whoever said you were in politics because you wanted to improve the world you live in? That kind of thinking should be left to social workers and welfare agencies.

LARRY SIBELMAN, Senior Field Representative, Service Employees International Union