The Right Wing ‘Christians’ in Congress finally did it. They’ve cut $39 billion from the food stamp program. Where is the Church? Why have they not engaged the evil that is encompassing this new thinking within the Right Wing of the Congress? In a country with one of the worst income and wealth disparity in the world, do they really believe it is abuse and not circumstance that has most of those using the program on food stamps?
The House approved legislation Thursday that would cut $39 billion in funds over the next decade for food stamp programs.
Members approved H.R. 3102, the Nutrition Reform and Work Opportunity Act, in a close 217-210 vote. No Democrats voted for the bill, and 15 Republicans voted against GOP leaders.
The bill would authorize food stamp programs for three years. The legislation, part of which was developed by Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), passed in the face of fierce opposition from House Democrats, a White House veto threat, and warnings that it is already dead on arrival in the Democratic Senate.
Several Democrats warned today that cutting $39 billion from the program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is a cruel step that would only hurt people in need. [Source
Many in the Republican Party have falsely claimed that food stamps create a welfare dependency. The problem with that analysis is that all parameters in the economy point to a middle class that is stressed. It points to a growing poor. It points to a system where wages are falling or at best stagnant.
Gingrich even had the audacity to call the President the food stamp president. What is ironic is that all the Republican fears of creating a welfare state have been realized. Unfortunately it is the rich that benefits from the welfare they feared.
The unnecessary purchase of military hardware is welfare for corporate shareholders. The use of private contractors provides lucrative profits for corporate owners and shareholders. The privatization of government services transfers profits (an inefficiency when a government service is provided by a private entity for no reason) to the corporate shareholders. Farm subsidies that go to corporate farms is a transfer of tax receipts to a few shareholders. Even the food stamp program that feeds many is a boon for corporate shareholders given that a percentage of food stamps provide ample profits. Personal welfare is a pittance when welfare is redefined to include all those sourcing their revenues from the government.
Sadly this is pure evil. Because Republican policies have not been excoriated with the appropriate graphic words they continue to push the envelope. Criminals have been heard to say that their first murder was difficult. As they continued with their murders it became easier. The Right Wing Republican analogy cannot be missed.
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I think maybe that, at least in part and for some, the thought is that any acceptance of public assistance is fraud. I grew up in a poor, patriotic, and religious northern region where the common response to social programs was, “the government takes money I earn and gives it to people who can’t be assed to go out and earn it themselves.”
This was heard from the working poor living next to non-working poor, based on the belief that the 20-30% that the government shaved off one slob’s paycheck went directly to the slob next door. If this is your perspective, it’s easy to see food stamps as government-enabled fraud.
These people form the political base for a lot of Christian conservative politicians. They respond to rhetoric that reinforces their perspectives. Rather than brushing it off and condemning it as mean-spirited nonsense, thereby encouraging the holders of this belief to respond defensively, wouldn’t it be a more successful approach to redefine the relationship between paying taxes and feeding the poor? Not with statistics and empirical facts, but with examples from the community?
The members of Congress who are leading the attack on the poor are afraid of being primaried next spring. Why? Because the Tea Party wackos in the Congressional districts are a vocal minority that has disproportionate influence in Washington. Translated: They’re scared they’re going to lost to a more conservative candidate in the primary election. What does that say about them. They are spineless. What does that say about us? We do not counterbalance the Tea Party wackos by telling our Congressmen that we want the poor to be fed, We want our children to be educated. We want the elderly to have healthcare and food. That is us.
We are the problem. We can sit on the sidelines and do nothing, which is what happened in Germany in the 1930s, or we can raise our voices. How hard is it to email a member of Congress and tell them what we want? Go to Google. Enter your Congressman’s name. Email them. Go back to what you were doing. That is how easy it is.
We must be heard in order for them to respond. If they believe that they will be challenged from the Right. Let them know they will be challenged from the Left. Tell them you will work to defeat them if they cut Social Security, Medicare, Obamacare, SNAP.
Tell them!!! Do it now.
I agree with you, Egberto, but you might want to find a better visual. That map reflects data from 2004 – before Obama was elected, and before the economic collapse. I wonder what the map looks like based on 2012 data.
Make no mistake: people will DIE due to this cut, and Republican heads should roll. But the bankers should have gone to jail for grand larceny, and didn’t, so…keep locking up people who shoplift candy.