Perspective
40, 50, 60 years from now, when I look back on my life, I'd rather be able to say I paid a few percentage points more in taxes so that my fellow humans could have a slightly better life, than leave this world with a ton of money in the bank that I can't take with me anyway. It really is that simple.
Tomorrow, a $40 billion dollar cut in SNAP (food stamp program) goes into effect. For some perspective on SNAP: More than 900,000 veterans rely on it. More than half of all adults will rely on it at some point between age 18 and 65. 1 out of every 4 children in the U.S. live in homes that rely on SNAP. 45 million Americans -- your friends, neighbors, family, maybe even you -- rely on SNAP. Those are facts. Now for my personal thoughts.. 1. The $40 billion Congress is trying to save on food stamps is roughly the same amount they wasted by shutting the government down. And they accomplished nothing by doing it. The Tea Party got NOTHING because they deserve NOTHING. Had Ted Cruz and his fellow arrogant overpaid prick buddies not gone on a power trip, they'd have enough to keep SNAP funded as it has been. Now, real people will suffer. That is indisputable. 2. It's interesting to me that the GOP -- America's supposed "Christian" party -- the ones who always want to talk about "What Would Jesus Do" -- are the ones to literally and figuratively take food off of peoples' tables. Related: They're also America's most hypocritical party. [Side note: I'm neither a Republican or a Democrat. I despise them both for different reasons. In fact, I despise the entire two-party system. (https://twitter.com/mbchp/status/396015588469792768)]. 3. Most people don't want to live on / rely on food stamps. Most people want a job. But apparently because the government is giving them so much money for food -- about $5 bucks a day for a family of 4 -- they miss out on all the good jobs because they're so busy eating all that delicious food! 4. Sure, cutting food stamps by $40 billion saves us some cash. For perspective, that amounts to less than a quarter of one percent of the federal deficit. A quarter of one percent. That must be the going rate for letting 45 million people be even hungrier than they already are. 5. Fact: The median annual household/family income has dropped every single year for the last 5 years (http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/us/), yet the cost of food has increased every year for the last 13 years (http://www.worldwatch.org/global-food-prices-continue-rise-0). Is this really the piece of the federal budget we should be looking at cutting to save money? 6. How about we invade a few less countries, spy on a few less foreign leaders, build a few less drones, and stop paying Congresspeople such high salaries ($174,000!) plus pensions and health care for the reset of their lives. Serving in Congress should be a privilege and an honor, not a career path and a means to set yourself up for life. (By the way: Congress hasn't taken a pay cut since 1932. Instead, they've gotten nice fat raises.. no wonder they're not concerned.) 7. I don't mind so much of my paycheck going to taxes. Freedom isn't free. What I mind is where it goes. Lining the pockets of crooked Congresspeople (who never can seem to do their jobs, despite being paid so much) is not my idea of a justifiable reason. Being the world's police is not my idea of a justifiable reason. Shutting the government down and wasting tens of billions of a dollars -- in this case, close to the amount of what food stamps are being cut -- is never a justifiable reason, and taking food off of people's tables who are already struggling will never be okay. It's never been so clear to me what a divided country we really are and I've never been so ashamed of where we're headed.
