Senator Corzine And Working Families

A reader’s email got us to thinking again about the term “working families”. Politicians love this term, especially the Democrats. So what does this term mean?

When we first heard the phrase we thought in literal terms. Working families meant exactly that – families in which everyone works, kids included. Good hardworking people - mom and dad with full-time jobs and the kids, flipping burgers, working at the mall, etc.

However, somehow we knew we really hadn’t grasped the real meaning of the term, because when a Democrat spoke of “working families” there always seemed to be a sad story implied by the phase. Someone (usually a Republican) was hurting “working families”. So, we realized the term had to have a more specific meaning, because in our “working family” it was usually a Democrat behind the government policies that were hurting us.

We gave up on trying to figure it out, just put it out of our minds until a reader contacted Enlighten-New Jersey. Our reader tells us that about three weeks ago he sent an email to Senator Jon Corzine asking him for a clarification on the term “working families.” As of today, the Senator has not bothered to reply, not even an auto respond. When you read what he sent, you’ll understand why.

Dear Senator Corzine (Or Staff Member receiving this email),

I hope I’m not bothering you with what may seem like a trivial question. Last night a group of friends got to talking about Senator Corzine’s support for working families. During the conversation someone asked “What does the term “working families” mean? We all recognized we had heard the term often. We’ve heard the Senator and others use the phrase, but our group could not agree upon a common definition.

So my question - what does the term mean, at least what does the Senator mean when he speaks of working families? I’ll give you some examples of the confusion among my friends.

The group all decided I would not be included under their definition. I’m divorced and have no children – therefore, they believe I don’t fall within the working family category. Some believed there had to be at least two people in the household, some thought at least one person in the home had to be a child. Some thought retired couples didn’t count – no longer working and others thought you couldn’t make more than “X” amount of money. Most thought that at least one person in the home had to work and earn a paycheck.

I volunteered to email the Senator to clear up the confusion. Oh yea, my friends agreed on one other thing – the Senator’s staff would be too busy to answer our dumb question. So I now have $50 riding on the side I will receive more than a thank you auto respond. I hope you won’t let me down.

Thank you in advance for your reply.

P.S. I do work for a living.