Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 17, 1995                   TAG: 9506190003
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOHN JAMES SHUMATE III
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WELFARE REFORM AIMS AT DEFENSELESS WOMEN AND CHILDREN

While the adages ``Never hit a lady'' and ``Women and children first'' may seem outdated, they do have relevance. And it's ironic that feminists decrying such sayings are going to have to sit and watch as women and children are not only hit by cuts to federal and state government, but are the last to be spared.

Women and children are on the receiving end of a battle being waged by politicians who use lobbying and laws like a wife beater uses his fists. The truth is, welfare mothers and children cannot adequately defend themselves. As many bullies have said that they beat their wives because they ``loved'' them, Republican Sen. Phil Gramm says he sponsored the cuts because he ``loved'' welfare mothers and children.

Welfare mothers and children are easy to bash because they can be bullied by those who are more educated and have more powerful friends in politics and business. Is it possible that welfare mothers or children could articulately defend themselves at the Capitol, or on ``Washington Week in Review'' and ``Firing Line''? The answer is ``no.''

But politicians and their fat-cat cohorts know how to use the media, and carefully point their arsenal of laws and regulations away from themselves. They want to play with the loaded gun we call democracy, but only if it's pointed at someone else.

Do women and children on welfare face a fair fight? Just take a look and decide.

They aren't backed by powerful Washington or Virginia lobbyists who plead their case in the halls and chambers of the state or national capitols.

They cannot scratch each other's backs so that they may prosper, as do members of the House and Senate.

They don't partake of the congressional pay raises, perks and prestige of the political inner circle.

They don't receive the multimillion-dollar salaries and bonuses allotted company executives, who then lay off another 1,000 workers - all the while they are being bailed out by Uncle Sam.

When observant Americans take aim at the rascals in Washington and Richmond, they will find that the abuses of welfare mothers and children pale in comparison to those by the powerful, rich and better-educated members of American society.

Welfare mothers and children have been falsely characterized as the scourge of the American tax system, when they account for only a small share of the abuse being heaped upon the American people and government. Supposed abuses wrought by these women and children are to some people a sign that a benevolent bureaucracy has failed the American people. There is a grain of truth to that, but there also are piles waiting to be shoveled elsewhere in America.

The time has come for Washington and Richmond to clean up their own back yards. The grains of sand are quickly mounting as political rascals prop up company crooks ripping off America, put more people onto the welfare rolls and then cut welfare benefits. When the rip-off is over, we're going to need a bulldozer to move it all. For now, we're somehow supposed to believe that women and children are tearing America and the commonwealth apart.

Not only is it the Democratic Party that gave the American people the congressional post-office scandal telling Americans that welfare mothers are somehow stealing from America. The Democrats are joined by a Republican Party that deregulated the banking industry, thus giving Americans the savings-and-loan crisis - the biggest rip-off in recent American history.

Amid all the back-scratching and self-serving behavior in American society, it seems very few people today are willing to respect those two old adages ``Never hit a lady'' and ``Women and children first.'' Even men who receive welfare are getting a beating.

Republicans call their attack on women and children a ``Contract With America.'' Democrats call it a ``Contract on America.'' Whatever they call it, one thing is certain: Neither side is going to shoot itself in the foot. When it comes time to save someone's political hide, you can be assured that it will not be the women and children first.

John James Shumate III, of Lynchburg, is a reporter for WLVA News Radio.