Is A Queen With No Subjects Still A Queen?

“Welfare Queen”. This moniker became a catchphrase used by conservatives in general and Ronald Reagan specifically, to fan the flames of discord. Encompassed in this phrase was misogyny, racism and elitism. The term came to prominence in the 1970s and ’80s. “The welfare queen stood in for the idea that black people were too lazy to work, instead relying on public benefits to get by, paid for by the rest of us upstanding citizens. She was promiscuous, having as many children as possible in order to beef up her benefit take. It was always a myth—white people have always made up the majority of those receiving government checks, and if anything, benefits are too miserly, not too lavish. But it was a potent stereotype, which helped fuel a crackdown on the poor and a huge reduction in their benefits, and it remains powerful today.”

But lost within this furor stood one lone woman. Linda Taylor, born in poverty and deprivation was a woman with limited educated and few options in a world dominated by men. Her life turned into a tragedy of murder and fraud. Her life was the template upon which conservatism built the myth of the Welfare Queen. Was she a deviant criminal? Was she a survivor? Perhaps a bit of both.

This blog references information from the link below, which sources from “The Queen” by Josh Levin"

https://newrepublic.com/article/154404/myth-welfare-queen