WHEREAS much has been made of the dependency of the poor on government assistance, such as welfare, Medicaid, and public housing. Such dependency is used to malign those who seek services, or to imply that these services are unmerited, unearned, and undeserved. Dependency has been made out as a caricature that especially targets low-income women of color, who are said to become royalty off food stamps. We have made asking for help shameful, with the exception of those who we deem entitled to ask for assistance (i.e., Bank of America; General Motors).
WHEREAS self-sufficiency, individualism, and to be ‘entirely self-made’ is touted as an American ideal and, more importantly, as a realistic, equal possibility for every child. We share a deeply guarded belief in a classless America – or, if there are classes, they are easily scaled by sweat, long hours, and a thing called “merit.” Those at the top are said to have it. Those at the bottom have simply not pulled at their bootstraps hard enough. The exceptions that make it up the rungs of the class ladder become tokens, proof that a rigged system is open to all of their otherwise lazy race, otherwise incompetent gender, or otherwise ignorant class background.
WHEREAS there is a growing divide between the wealthy and everyone else. The gap between the really rich and the really poor is unapologetically expansive and rising. As this gap grows, the double standards for the two are increasingly apparent. Companies are said to be too big to fail, but individuals can lose their homes. The bank is bailed out, but the client is forced to declare bankruptcy. The car dealership is saved, but the owner’s vehicle is repossessed. The wealthy lobby for tax cuts, but the union worker loses their bargaining rights. The assistances bestowed on the millionaires are not matched to the non-millionaires, but only further perpetuate their degradation, disempowerment, and exploitation.
WHEREAS power lies in truth-telling, and self-reclamation lies in naming, this manifesto is a public, written declaration that:
(1) Self-sufficiency is a myth.
There is no such thing as equal access to meritocracy in our nation as we know it today. Those at the bottom know that the more you sweat, the longer hours you work, or the more merit you have does not rapid upward mobility make.
The illusion of self-sufficiency is nothing more than plagiarism. Self-made wealth is only possible because of multitudes of poor. The top one percent is made possible because the bottom sixty percent has been immobilized from demanding their money back. To claim to have self-made wealth is to plagiarize the common wealth. (Note that exploitative dependency is not collective dependency – exploiting the collective is not transformative.)
Meritocracy is the fairy tale disguise that allows a few to continue to profit off the backs of most. It keeps us aspiring to be at the top if we’re not, or resenting the bottom if we’re not, or hating ourselves if we are the bottom, or being terrified of falling if we’re somewhere in the middle.
Self-sufficiency is nothing more than a manifestation of our silenced history. Who built the railroads? Who drained the swamps? Who nursed the children? Who sewed the zippers on the denim jeans? Who picked the cacao? Who rinsed the pre-washed lettuce? If we don’t name those we rely on, those whose backs we use as bridges, then they do not exist. To claim self-sufficiency in the face of such reliance, such need, and such dependence is to deny our own reality.
(2) Welfare is not a drug.
One cannot “overdose” on welfare. One cannot develop a chemical dependency on it. Welfare is not a pathological need. To use a drug metaphor to describe the process of receiving welfare is fallacious, and it cruelly slanders those who have never been permitted to define themselves for themselves.
We are all on government assistance. If you drive on the highway, fly out of an airport, attend a public school or university, get a vaccination, write-off a business lunch, or drink water from the faucet, you are a welfare recipient. Deciding what is good welfare and bad welfare or what is acceptable dependency and pathological dependency prevents us from seeing that we all depend on each other and – through each other – our government to provide for our well-being. Drawing lines in the sand on the beach will not save us from the tidal wave.
Welfare is a right and it is justice. If we practice exploitative dependency, it will be necessary to provide greater assistance to those we rely on. You cannot squeeze a sponge dry and then deny it water, only to expect to squeeze it again the next day. But welfare is also justice. We must move away from the rhetoric of what is “deserved” or “earned” to an understanding that existence alone is enough to be worthy of a housing, of food, of clothing, of love.
(3) Dependency is necessary for survival.
As self-sufficiency is a guise to prevent us from seeing our reliance on those below us, just as the distinction between those on welfare and those who are not ignores the ways we all depend on government assistance, this manifesto holds that dependency is real, true, and necessary.
Dependency is reality because we already need each other – that we choose not to acknowledge this basic reality speaks to the deep hold oppressive ideologies have on our hearts and psyches. Scoffing at dependency is women-hating. Denying our present dependency is poor-hating. Imagining ourselves to be independent individuals when we practice such extreme degrees of reliance ensures that oppressed groups remain oppressed. We should no longer foster shame for desiring simple needs of the human condition. No one can make it through this hard but beautiful world alone, and no one should have to. Nor should anyone pretend to.
This manifesto claims that non-exploitative dependency is transformative. To depend is to be vulnerable. To embrace vulnerability is to be free. The sooner we recognize and nurture our collective dependency, the sooner we will see that our strength is not in independence nor in individual merit, but in each other.
Our liberation cannot be manifested. For true actualization, this manifesto depends on us all.
