The human cost of budget cuts
Posted by Brandon Ortiz on Feb 23
The state budget isn't just a document with a bunch of numbers and pie charts. It is a moral document that shows what we, as a society, value and believe in.
By that measure, the $20 billion the governor is seeking in budget cuts for education and vital services is fundamentally immoral. Rather than roll back tax breaks for the ultra wealthy and big business, the governor wants to balance the budget on the backs of seniors and the disabled.
It is hard not to read this recent Los Angeles Times story without a tear swelling in your eye.
Gilberto Hernandez wheeled himself to the front of the room and took his place in a semicircle of wheelchairs. His left arm remained limp, but he lifted his right arm into the air and moved it in circles to the beat.
Hernandez, a former construction worker left partially paralyzed by a stroke and heart attack 12 years ago, needs help eating, bathing, changing and going to the bathroom. Each weekday, he and about 130 others spend several hours at the Golden Age Adult Day Health Care Center in Lynwood.
"When I am here and listen to the music, I forget about my problems at home," Hernandez, 48, said with a slur. "In my home I feel very alone."
The governor wants to close 327 adult day healthcare centers across the state. The savings would only place a small dent in the budget shortfall, but the human cost would be immense.
To balance the budget on the backs of society's most vulnerable, without asking for an ounce of sacrifice from the most affluent, is unconscionable. Shame on you, Mr. Governor.
