This guy is an actual senator!

Yeah, he's from Arkansas. Of course he is. He looks like one of the kids from Mud.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) suggested on Monday that population decline and drug abuse in poor areas could be the result of too many people on Social Security disability.

Speaking to the conservative Heritage Foundation on Monday, Cotton warned that communities with high a percentage of residents on Social Security disability had reached a tipping point that was linked to population decline. But he said that communities which used fewer benefits were enjoying a population increase.
“It’s hard to say what came first or caused the other, population decline or increased disability usage,” Cotton opined. “Or maybe economic stagnation caused both. Regardless, there seems to be at least at the county and regional level something like a disability tipping point.”

What the fuck is this guy even talking about?
Population decline?

You know, maybe he's right. Maybe people who are disabled are less eager to have kids? Maybe a lot of disabled people are thinking "Geez, how would I chase a toddler around in this wheelchair?" Or maybe, I don't know, maybe they're thinking "my disability payments are barely covering my living expenses and doctor bills, there's no way I can afford to have a baby."  So, maybe that's not a bad thing? People being responsible about family planning?

“When a county hits a certain level of disability usage, disability becomes a norm,” he continued. “It becomes an acceptable way of life and alternative source of income to a good paying full-time job as opposed to a last resort safety net program to deal with catastrophic injury and illness.”

Yeah. . . no. Not so much. Being on disability isn't something that goes in and out of style. People either are disabled or they aren't. And, yes, there are of course people who fake injury to scam the system. But it isn't like once one person does that faking it becomes contagious either. It's not like Heathers!

“At a certain point when disability keeps climbing and become endemic, employers will struggle to find employees or begin or continue to move out of the area,”

O my God. Has that ever happened? Has there ever been a community where so many people became disabled that companies couldn't find any non-disabled people to work for them anymore? Do you have any idea how ridiculous you sound?

“The population continues to fall and a downward spiral kicks in, driving once thriving communities into further decline.”
“Not only that, but once this spiral begins, communities could begin to suffer other social plagues as well, such as heroin or meth addiction and associated crime.”

Heroin? Meth? Is that really what you think happens? Disablility somehow becomes an epidemic, there are no able-bodied workers left, so companies abandon the city, so then. . . heroin?

 

If only I had kept working after I injured my back!

Cotton revealed that he planned to introduce legislation that would single out non-permanent disability recipients and set a timeline for them to return to work.
Disabled people who are not ready to return to work would be forced to reapply for disability benefits, Cotton said.

Fuck you!
You know, I was on temporary disability once, after an ugly skiing accident. And it took a bit longer than predicted for my fractured hip to heal up. If I had had to go through the headaches of re-applying for disability, I mean -  I guess I would have because what choice would I have had, but still. Fuck you, Cotton. I paid into Social Security, I'm still paying in and probably will be for years to come. If I need to use it, I will. There's nothing in the world wrong with that. It's not a fucking handout, I paid for it. And the entire time that I was on disability, I swear to you that zero of my friends, family and/or neighbors found themselves suddenly disabled. No one said "well, Hell, if the Perfessor can do it, I can too!"  And no one started doing heroin.