some ppl think food stamps are the devil.  i think starvation is closer to the darkest of evils myself.  food is necessary for ppl to live!  i know that sounds like  a well known fact….but there are ppl who want to do away with the food stamp program (currently know as snap benefits) bc it is not the job of the gov to feed lazy ppl with no jobs or low paying jobs.  so if a person must eat, but a person can’t afford to eat and the gov won’t step in and communities won’t step in and the individual won’t step in doesn’t that mean we are saying, even through silence, that those ppl don’t deserve to live?  i think so.

food is expensive!  plain and simple!  and the food that is the most accessible to the largest population-the poor-is in reality not nutritious-a lunch of ramen noodles, a can of soda and a twinkie cost about $1.25 compared to a salad with greens instead of iceberg lettuce and cheese and nuts which cost about $5.73.  although the calorie count on the poor man’s lunch is much higher than that of the other, there is little to no nutrition in the calories.  this leads to so many health problems: diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, gastrointestinal issues, major electrolyte imbalances, etc.  and despite the ongoing rumor that we will have socialized medicine-which we will not-there is no way to combat the medical issues  caused by inadequate nutrition without changing the diet of the person who is suffering.

there is a theory that food stamps and other forms of socialized help causes laziness.  this is bullshit-plain and simple.  most ppl who receive assistance, food stamps being the most common form, are working and have children.  many ppl on assistance are elderly and disabled making working outside the home difficult to impossible.

another common misconception is the character in modern society called the welfare mother.  it is a racist stereotype of a lazy mom, usually black, who goes and has baby after baby just to get more assistance from the gov.  well, i am here to tell you this is bullshit!  there is not a single person who is going to have a child for the measly money given out by the gov.  it just doesn’t happen.  the monthly max total for tanf and food stamps combined is $400.  i hate to break it to you, but that is just not enough money to justify having a kid.  it’s not enough to raise a kid much less turn a profit.  this character needs to be erased from the public lexicon, it is dangerous and hurtful and just plain stupid to even say such things!

“i don’t want my tax dollars to go to help some unwed, teenage mother buy her kid chips and soda!!!!” that is the battle cry of those opposed to public assistance. it is generally sung by the same ppl who are totally against abortion and proper sexual education and public access to birth control.  so we want ppl to have babies, young ppl, but we don’t want them to stay home and raise them nor do we want to give them any financial respite to help fend off the effects of malnutrition….does this make any sense?

ppl seem to think that so much of their tax dollar goes to public assistance, but that is not the case at all!  only about $.20 of every dollar goes to assistance-that includes hud, food stamps, tanf, medical.  over $.50 of every dollar goes into the military.  the rest is distributed through programs such as the national parks.  so we are nationally cool with killing ppl but not with feeding them.

the bottom line is if there is a gov that gov should be there to serve the needs of the ppl, period.  ppl need food!  without food ppl die.  without proper nutrition ppl die slowly.  i am personally not comfortable with deciding which of my neighbors, friends, family members, the ppl in the grocery stores should be the next head on the chopping block.  are you?