“The focus has to be
in ERADICATING the safety net and not
bolstering the safety net.”
Speaker Nicholas Mattiello established himself
as a cartoon super villain at the 7th annual
Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty Vigil
when he told an assembled crowd of faith leaders and poverty advocates that
when it comes to ending poverty, job creation and appropriate funding of the
social safety net are important, but, “the focus has to be on eradicating the
safety net and not bolstering the safety net.”
It’s obvious that the Speaker is no longer
pretending to be a Democrat. You can hear the entirety of Mattiello’s short
speech below.
From Randall Rose:
Here’s a transcript of
Mattiello’s not-very-heartfelt-sounding speech:
[Applause] Thank you all for that warm — welcome, and I want to thank all the faith leaders that are here today … um, working to care for our community and the human condition. And all of the folks that are here supportive of the faith community; thank you for your effort on behalf of people. Um, and, and human needs in our society.
I
want to recognize … some of my representatives that are here: Representative
Solomon, Representative Ajello, Representative Ackerman, Representative Lancia,
Representative Tanzi, Representative Azzinaro, Representative Bennett, and
Representative Regunberg. I hope I didn’t forget anybody. [Applause]
Thank you
for all of your hard work. And those are some, and certainly not all, of the …
representatives that will be … advocating, um, for human needs and, and
eradicating poverty in our society. You’re fortunate in that the Governor led,
in that you don’t have to hear as long a speech [a bit of laughter], and I’m
fortunate in that I don’t have to give … remarks that are as long, because I
almost want to say I agree with the Governor.
Um, the best way to get us out of
poverty is to create a good economy, to, to provide … a place of opportunity
where folks can get jobs, support their families, work, and raise their
families here in the state of Rhode Island and, and, uh, live a happy life as
is all of our goals.
In the meantime we will work to provide a safety net that
is appropriate and provides security for, for persons in our state that are in
need. However, the focus
has to be in eradicating the safety net and not bolstering the safety net.
So I thank you all for your advocacy, I will be there working with all of you,
and we are going to lift Rhode Islanders out of poverty. Thank you very much.
[Applause]
Steve Ahlquist is
a writer, artist and current president of the Humanists of Rhode Island, a
non-profit group dedicated to reason, compassion, optimism, courage and action.
The views expressed are his own and not necessarily those of any organization
of which he is a member.
His photos and video are
usable under the Creative Commons license. Free to share with credit.
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"We must take sides.
Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the
tormentor, never the tormented.” - Elie Weisel
