The Republican crusade against food stamps is just another silly game designed to show how tough they are. Like so many of the bills spewed forth by the House of Representatives recently, the proposed legislation to slash nearly $4 billion a year from the federal food stamp budget is sheer theater.
If the bill passes the Republican-controlled House, which is likely, it won’t get past the Democrats who control the Senate. And the Republicans know that. It’s just another Tea Party ploy to try and paralyze the government by stalling the Farm Bill.
The tough talk on Fox News and in other conservative media is just hot air. It’s not only a pack of lies, it’s also a waste of time.
Some Americans may be impressed by the swagger but nobody is going to let children starve. The vast majority of Americans are generous souls. Thousands in this country dig into their pockets to send money to hungry children abroad. America has to be the number one country in the world when it comes to foreign aid – especially when it comes to food and health care for children.
You don’t see the Russians sending billions abroad to feed and succor other people’s kids, do you? No, they’re far more likely to send fighter jets and tanks.
All the talk in the world is not going to persuade the American public to support a political program that takes the food out of the mouths of babies.
If the feds were to cut food stamps, the states would simply have to step in and feed the hungry. Churches, charities and food banks would have to dig deeper. Municipalities would have to raise property taxes to fund soup kitchens and shelters. And in the current economy, that would be an intolerable burden on already overstressed local and state resources.
Nearly 50 million Americans are living in poverty – an unprecedented and unacceptable state of affairs. And the public knows Republican obstructionism is to blame. Obsessed with such false panaceas as the “free market” and “austerity,” the economic imbeciles in Congress have blocked most of the beneficial programs President Obama has tried to initiate.
But attacking food stamps is going too far. The Republican loudmouths can demonize poor families as much as they please, but Americans know better. The general public knows how food stamps work. Many have been helped by food stamps at some stage of their lives. They know it’s a temporary program that helped them make it through the tough times so they could recover to pay their way – and pay taxes – once again.
The crazies have miscalculated this time. And they’re going to pay the price at the polls next November.
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