Make Poverty Simulation a Rite of Passage to hold Public Office

Make Poverty Simulation a Rite of Passage to hold Public Office

Started
June 24, 2020
Petition to
Frederick County Government and 5 others
Signatures: 14Next Goal: 25
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Why this petition matters

Started by Vladimir Tolskiy

Many of us experience a considerable disconnect between people who are living paycheck to paycheck and the public officials who are there to represent us.

Our public officials commonly lack the background and the experience of living in poverty, while it is very difficult for someone who lives paycheck to paycheck to become a politician.

Politicians are eager to "grow the local economy". They produce Napoleonic plans to build hotels, to develop fields, to build new roads and to make real estate more profitable.

All of this often comes at a great human cost that is often not accounted for, under the present social order. People who were hurt by those endeavors quickly fall through the cracks, losing their voice. They are flushed down the "poor people"/welfare/social service system, never to be seen again.

Once we lose our ability to work, we are driven out by high rent and replaced with more profit-bearing residents. Many of us feel insecure.

What is in it for us in this growth? More traffic? More people above us in the hierarchy? Longer lines at the soup kitchen?

Our social service safety net is almost non-existent. It can give out second-hand food, temporarily provide a bed in an overcrowded shelter: this is pretty much where it all ends. To get reduced rate healthcare, one would have to go to many organizations and to collect many papers: very difficult for people who work overtime and/or don’t have a car.

In order for our dear elected or appointed officials to understand how it is to survive paycheck to paycheck, how it is to be poor and not able to afford rent, how it is to not have a car, to be homeless, to depend on the handouts and the mercy of the system, a system that they lead, it may be wise to make poverty simulation a mandatory procedure, before they take office.

Poverty simulation can be a fun ritual where politicians would be going through the circles of hell of our "poor people services" completely anonymously, or in the full view of the public and cameras.

A first-hand experience may help them understand why people can be stuck in poverty for many years and give them a better understanding of how to improve our social services.

This educational experience needs to be written into our laws to help our politicians make more inclusive divisions, once they take office, and to behave as public servants.

Let's remind them that they are here to represent all of us.

I would like to test this in Frederick, Maryland, and then make it a standard practice around the United States and abroad.

#povertysimulation

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Signatures: 14Next Goal: 25
Support now
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Decision Makers

  • Frederick County Government
  • Frederick City Government
  • Maryland State Governor Larry J. HoganMaryland State Governor
  • Ron YoungMaryland State Senator
  • David TroneCongressman