NO, not to vote!
For Food Stamp users to buy groceries.
Rep. Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., introduced the SNAP Verify Act, which would require individuals who receive acceptance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to present a photo ID when buying products at stores that accept food stamp recipients.Meanwhile, Republicans passed the "Farm Bill' that includes subsidies for Big Ag that will artificially drive up sugar and milk prices. It also funds the "Food For Peace" program and gives Billions to pork projects including funding the Failed ethanol fuel additives program which is a big boon to Republicans in corn producing States. (See the recent studies of ethanol effectiveness.)
Now, we can all agree that Food Stamp fraud is a bad thing, and that steps need to be taken to ensure that the SNAP program is being used wisely, however this nightmare is bad enough for the disabled and needy, now they want to take away one of the things that Ronald Reagan stressed should be afforded every American, Dignity.
It seems like a simple enough "fix", but as with everything the GOP is doing these days it assumes fraud on the part of every recipient instead of going after the people actually violating the law, or God forbid, scrapping a program that instills government dependency from the start.
I'm sure you know someone who has had to use the Food Stamp program thanks to this economy, and you probably know of people who abuse the system, there's one in every crowd. But, do you really believe that the thing that is going to reform the Food Stamp program is making the person whose name is on the card, usually a woman, the only person in the family who can use the card?
The proposal by Rep. Patricia Morgan, R-West Warwick, would apply to those using electronic benefit cards to redeem other public assistance too. It would be up to retailers to check the photo ID against the name on the government-issued EBT card.How often do the retailers check the type of card being used these days anyway? How much more time will be used while other customers wait to check those IDs? Will they have EBT only checkouts, kinda like the black only bathrooms of the post antebellum South?
Some of the people that are for this ridiculous feel good measure would have you believe it will stop fraud in its tracks, they must think that a person won't buy the groceries and walk out the door to the person they need cash from and take the 50 cents on the dollar for the items they bought. As this story from Rightwing News points out, it's the criminals stupid!
You cannot change a system that is designed to enslave people and take away their morality and personal responsibility; perhaps one day soon Obama will run this country into the ground enough that welfare subsidies will dry up.Ronald Reagan understood that by bringing everyone down to the lowest level you don't show respect for anyone. This is a case of lowering those who need help to the level of the criminals that should never have been added to the program to begin with.
It would have been nice if these self righteous Republicans had thought about fixes before passing the Trillion dollar "Farm Bill" mess and before Democrats could use issues like this to make Republicans look like heartless bas!@&ds and lend even more support to the Democrat's re-election efforts this year.
This is not an issue that I ever wanted to debate on the side of recipients, but then I never thought I'd ever have a debilitating heart condition, or years of unemployment that goes with it. My wife does work however, and I watch our 2 year old. At 49 years old it seems a little odd, and it keeps me from other forms of work, but we're not paying someone else a full time wage to watch our children either. Yes, we do receive assistance because we could not afford to pay our bills and eat as well. I appreciate the people who don't have a choice in paying for the system, which is why I stand against it. The proper place for this kind of help is the churches and your neighbors. (That is if todays neighbors were the respectful people of yesteryear.)
I would rather the Food Stamp system was completely defunded and the money returned to the pockets of generous Americans to distribute though charity and food shelves, but feel good measures like mandatory ID checks won't help, it will only drive the fraud farther underground and make life a series of "Papers Please" moments for the innocent. Kind of like the ID check I have to go through to pick up certain medications in a State that allows doctor assisted suicide. The Democrats are nothing if not ironic. Or is that moronic?
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