Selfish politicians in the U.S. Congress have launched a shameful, brutal attack against this nation's poorest, neediest people. We might even call this a war except one side, the politicians, have all the power and the people have none. We are witnessing the height of callous behavior as these politicians are hell bent on slashing food stamp benefits of those who have no where else to turn for help.
Why in the world should such a travesty even be going on in America, the self-proclaimed "wealthiest nation in the world?" How did it ever come to this, that to reduce the budget deficits and the national debt these politicians have to stoop so low as to take food off the table of millions of their fellow Americans? Well it's because those dollars saved in slashing these benefits are sorely needed to fuel the Washington war machine and to continue to pay the salaries of these political incompetents. How pitiful, how very pathetic and small-minded.
Apparently these new-age politicians have either forgotten or totally dismiss the words of their former party leader, President Ronald Reagan, who said, "As long as there is one person in this country who is hungry, then that is one person too many." It's now very evident that the rogue element that has assumed control of this party has taken those words and completely reversed their intent.
Let's take a look at how this situation has evolved. Over a period of just over a decade, starting in the year 2000, corporations have shipped many millions of jobs to China; they have closed 57,000 factories, put those former workers on unemployment, dependent on food stamps, and struggling to survive. And then, as these people try to find decent jobs, when there are virtually none to be had, here is what that special breed of craven politicians are doing in the Congress:
They adopt the Republican standard tactic of blocking and obstructing every attempt by the more mentally balanced members of Congress to create any kind of jobs for these unemployed Americans. These politicians use that tactic as they act in behalf of those corporations who reap great profits from Chinese slave labor and want nothing to do with American workers. And then when millions of these workers have gone down for the count, these same politicians start beating the drums to launch an attack on food stamp benefits.
How in the world can these pathetic politicians justify doing such a heartless, unconscionable thing to their fellow Americans, some 47 million of them, who remain in such great need? Well they don't find that to be the least bit difficult; they just start calling them fat, lazy, and shiftless slackers; portray them as eating too much, watching their big screen TV's, driving big cars and label them as people who would rather lie on their behinds on couches instead of looking for honest work.
And speaking of job creation, let's not hear that same old baseless argument that the government should not be in the business of creating jobs because it most certainly does. Over many decades it has just done just that to stimulate the economy during recessions and has teamed with business many times to create jobs in new industries needing development. Government has a role in serving as an adjunct to the business sector to build and maintain a stable, growing economy. But the GOP corporate-controlled obstructionists in Congress want no such thing.
So if these political bullies want to depict these people as lazy, shiftless slackers they better make certain that none of their presentations promoting cutbacks in food stamps ever mention that, in addition to these unemployed workers, a very large portion of these badly needed benefits also go to needy children, elderly Americans and disabled persons. The last thing that you would want to do is to let the majority of Americans become aware of this fact; make sure you keep them in the dark so that they will support your efforts designed to eventually kill the entire program.
This is a part of what I call the darkness that looms over America. Just think about this: what kind of Americans, what kind of human beings, are these politicians who are so clearly refusing to do anything at all to find the ways to create the millions of jobs that this country so desperately needs -- and, at the same time, are creating so much havoc and misery in the lives of these millions of displaced workers? There is something so very troubling about this utter disregard and contempt for the welfare of others. This is a terrible and sad commentary on what America is rapidly becoming.
What we have here is a situation in which these politicians and their corporate masters have joined together in a collusive arrangement to create alliances with China and other overseas nations, with the objective of generating ever greater corporate profits; and, in doing so, they have clearly sold out their country, this society and American workers.
If you want to see how pervasive that this consortium made up of U.S. Corporations, Congressional politicians and the Chinese government has become, check out the very disturbing, actually shocking, documentary entitled "Death By China." I watched it using the Netflix.com streaming process and it's also available from various internet sources. It clearly illustrates how the American manufacturing sector has largely been dismantled and shipped to the People's Republic of China, aka, Communist China. Now would someone like to explain how this selling out of your country is not a form of treason?
I can't believe how many of these politicians that so strongly promote these cutbacks to the food stamp program claim to be Christians and even use fabricated pseudo-Christian theology to justify it. They seem to be some kind of pretend-Christians who, if they were shown a copy of the "Sermon on the Mount" and saw the words about Christian love and care for others contained in it, would undoubtedly say that such words are no longer relevant in today's America; that it is old, outdated and obsolete thinking; that times have changed and there is no longer any room for that kind of bleeding heart liberalism.
What kind of human beings do these kinds of inhuman things to their fellow citizens?
But if we think that the current cutback of $5 billion that took place on November 1, 2013 is a severe blow to this program just wait because even much greater reductions are being planned by the GOP and its House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan. This chief architect of food stamps cutbacks has proposed a budget that reduces these program benefits by $133.5 billion over the next ten years.
The words "great" and "exceptional" must never be associated with America as long as such an egregious situation is allowed to continue and, actually, grow worse with every passing day. A nation such as America that possesses enormous wealth and resources and then allows cruel and heartless leaders and spineless politicians to treat their fellow citizens in this way is one that should hang its head in shame and disgrace.
Michael Payne
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