"Are there no workhouses?"

The reader who sent me this link wrote: "When I was totally burnt out on trying to get [my disabled] daughter going in some direction, somehow, and was going to the county to try to get help, I was told that the only way they would have funds to help her was if I threw her out of the house.

"Then, because she would be at serious risk, they would have to step in. So, yes. That's the only way you can get money, sometimes. But they weren't recommending it. And somehow I don't think anyone who knew the whole story would think any less of these parents for doing it."

This whole mess is Dickensian. But then, this happens so often with Republican officials, who would rather cut off their arm than raise taxes to help the poor and defenseless: