THE HOBO
HANDBOOK: MEMOIRS OF A HOMELESS POET IN NEW YORK
By Daniel Canada c.2010
CHAPTER FOUR THE GOVERNMENT
"The best thing you can do for the poor is
not to become one of them."-Rev. Ike [Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter the
2nd]
GOVERNMENT is defined as “A form or system of rule by which a
state is governed.” At this point I wish to make a necessary clarification. When
I talk about the government, I am not referring to the President of the United
States, Congress, The Senate, or the House of Representatives, which, for the
most part, work hard in their assigned tasks to serve the country. Neither am I
referring to the Governor of the State and the local State organs of administration.
I am, however, referring to the national and
local bureaucratic machinery, with its countless, cumbersome, wheels and tired
cogs, which churn endlessly to no-one’s advantage but its own.
That’s right. I’m shinning a flashlight into
the gnarly cracks and crevices of the hither-to-unknown, little, comfortable,
and useless, government, civil-servant-bureaucrat.
These are the jokers, who sit behind enormous desks with their eyes
glued to their watches, counting time and waiting to get in enough years
accumulated, in order to get a fat, cushy, government retirement check. Yes,
I’m referring to these bastards, as well as the apparatus that deals with
housing the homeless and, supposedly, helping them acquire a decent place of
residence. This includes the office of Public Assistance, which is
supposed to provide adequate food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid assistance to
those who qualify, as well. If there was such an animal as “Quality Assurance,”
you can rest assure these guys and gals would fail woefully in measuring up to the
aptitude of their task.
First, I will discuss the pathetic office of
Public Assistance.
Already I see the miserly bureaucrats running for cover and ducking under the
protection of their paper-latent desks.
(To be continued...)
