[lbo-talk] Political Cartography: The Welfare State

Bill Bartlett billbartlett at dodo.com.au
Mon Nov 22 04:28:22 PST 2004


At 5:04 PM -0500 21/11/04, Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:


>Does the term "a welfare state" really sound better to Americans
>than the term "a socialist state"? The idea of a welfare state gives
>them -- both on the left and right -- a depressing image of a
>client-case worker relationship in which the client feels tyrannized
>and the case worker feels overworked: e.g.,

Only people who have never lived at the pointy end of the welfare state could ever imagine "Whaddwe want? A WELFARE STATE!" as a rallying cry to the masses.

Loved "WELFARE QUEAN", where do you find these gems?

Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas

WEEVILS IN THE FLOUR Dorothy Hewitt

On an island in a river How that bitter river ran We grew on scraps of charity In the best way that you can On that island in a river Where I grew to be a man

CHORUS For dole bread is bitter bread Bitter bread and sour There's grief in the taste of it There's weevils in the flour

And just across the river Stood the mighty BHP Poured pollution on the waters Poured the lead of misery And the smoke was black as Hades Rolling hungry to the sea

CHORUS

In those humpies by the river We lived on dole and stew And just across the river Those hungry smokestacks grew And the hunger of the many Filled the bellies of the few

CHORUS

For dole bread is bitter bread Bitter bread and sour And men grew hard as iron upon Black bread and sour Black bread and sour



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