Memo
 
Date: April 2, 2008
To: Assemblyman John Benoit
From: Jon Fleischman
RE: Understanding Liberals
 
I saw that yesterday, on a party-line vote, Assembly Democrats rejected your  Assembly Bill 2389 which, put simply, would require that welfare recipients in California must submit to random drug tests, and if they they fail, be enrolled in mandatory treatment, or lose their right to welfare.
 
You are to be commended for bringing forward such a common-sense measure, but I think that we all knew, unfortunately, that it was destined for defeat.
 
It is not a coincidence that Democrats opposed this bill, while your Republican colleagues supported it.  You see it goes to one of the basic core differences between the political philosophies of the two parties.  Democrats believe in "collective responsibility" and Republicans support the idea of "individual responsibility" — and there is a huge difference.
 
In the case of AB 2389, from the point of view of a Democrat, this bill is poor public policy because, first and foremost, it is not the fault of someone in need of public assistance that they are in that position.  They are victims of societal influences that create an uneven playing field.  They are very comfortable placing this person, generally, in a welfare category for life.  Also, they largely believe that people who are addicted to drugs are actually victims as well.  That through no or little fault of their own, they have had a rough go of it and who can blame these folks for turning to drugs?
 
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.