“There, too, was the Human Roulette Wheel in the Steeplechase Park section of Coney. This bizarre contraption spun like a washing machine, kinetically throwing outside stragglers to the mercy of momentum! …”terrastories.com

Conservative disdain for the poor has reached new heights with the recent passage of the HOPE Act in Kansas earlier this month. This bill, signed into law by Governor Sam Brownback, prohibits those who receive TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) from using funds to go to movies, to go swimming, to go theme parks, to gamble, to visit strip clubs or bars.

Many Americans fundamentally believe that one’s income bracket should determine one’s access to fun, pleasure, and entertainment. The resentment and the lack of empathy that undergirds most of the social policy that emerges from the right prove just how out-of-touch and mean-spirited such social policy is.

Should poor people not have the right to go swimming? Swimming is an important survival skill. There are large swaths of Black people who do not know how to swim because of long histories of segregated swimming pools and subpar swimming facilities in this country.

More: White America’s Gwyneth Paltrow Problem: How It’s Playing Games With the Lives of Poor People

also see via Alternet: America’s Disgusting, Boundless Hatred for Poor People