America’s Food for Votes Program
2/18/13
WENDY MCELROY, THE FREEMAN
During his 2012 bid to become the Republican nominee for President, Newt Gingrich repeatedly called Barack Obama “the food-stamp President.” From the time Obama assumed office in January 2009 through October 2012, the number of people on food stamps spiked from 31.9 million to 47.5, according to the U.S. government’s own data. That is a rise of nearly 50 percent to a peak of 1 in 7 Americans and 1 in 4 children participating. The program’s cost has more than doubled in four years, from $30 billion to $72 billion. So, it seems, there was plenty of bread to go with the electoral circus.
The food stamp program’s new name is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Critics claim it is economically unsustainable, widely abused, and the harbinger of a colossal welfare state. Advocates insist SNAP is the result of recession—a humanitarian necessity—and that food is a human right. But it is difficult to square food-stamp humanitarianism with other policies issuing from the White House, which add up to an attempt to make people dependent.
Ulterior Motives?
...
And that’s not all.
In the months prior to the 2012 Presidential election, the USDA actively promoted “food stamp parties.” In an article entitled “Food Stamps: Both Obama and Republicans Are to Blame for Record Crisis,” Cato Budget Analyst Tad DeHaven quoted the toolkit guide used to promote the celebrations. “Throw a Great Party. Host social events where people mix and mingle . . . Make it fun by having activities, games, food, and entertainment, and provide information about SNAP. Putting SNAP information in a game format like BINGO, crossword puzzles, or even a ‘true/false’ quiz is fun and helps get your message across in a memorable way.” In other campaigns, large cash awards were given to those who signed up the most people. The latter fact may have encouraged bureaucrats, rather than high-ranking officials, to ramp up the program.
There are political advantages to expanding programs like SNAP.
President Obama has never hidden his goal to redistribute wealth in America.
SNAP is forced redistribution on at least three levels:
■First, taxes from the rich and middle classes enrich the poor.
■Second, crony capitalists benefit. For example, JPMorgan administers the debit cards through which food assistance is distributed. The fiscal watchdog Government Accountability Institute claims that the company’s contracts in 18 of the 24 states it manages have brought in at least $560,492,596.02 since 2004.
■Third, immense bureaucratic structures are established at the federal level. Entitlements thus lock in the allegiance and votes of both those who receive benefits and those whose livelihood now depends upon administering the programs, which paves an easier path to election as supplicants show up to “pay” with their votes.
Runaway entitlements thus weaken the political opposition. For example, Republicans’ demand for restraint gets recast as callousness. But more importantly, entitlements weaken the free market, which is the true ideological enemy of all ambitious politicians, Democrat and Republican alike.
...
America's Food for Votes Program - The Moral Liberal
