Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

I wonder if Pat Buchanan has ever had to get help from the social welfare state that he touts in his Dec. 12 column,  “The winter of conservative discontent”. 

Buchanan states that “....work is less desirable when the social welfare state offers a cushioned existence for life”. To whom living in this “cushioned existence” has he spoken to and questioned? Perhaps he’s talked to the single mom struggling to put food on the table because her husband either died, left, or lost his job; or perhaps it was the disabled person who can’t or won’t be hired due to serious illness or injury; or perhaps it’s the child in the foster care network who has shelter and food but perhaps not much human nurturing; or perhaps he talked with the ill waiting, waiting, and waiting for medical care in public clinics.

 I challenge Buchanan to live this “cushioned existence for life” for one year and then write an opinion piece about his experience. He may sing a different tune, indeed.  

Bea Lingenfelter

Manteca

Dec. 14, 2012