Help agribusiness but take away the food stamps

Republicans sank to a new low this past week when they cut the food stamp program out of the farm bill and added even more pork for the corporate agribusiness industry.   Here's how Paul Krugman put it in his New York Times column:

"Something terrible has happened to the soul of the Republican Party. We’ve gone beyond bad economic doctrine. We’ve even gone beyond selfishness and special interests. At this point we’re talking about a state of mind that takes positive glee in inflicting further suffering on the already miserable.

"The occasion for these observations is, as you may have guessed, the monstrous farm bill the House passed last week.

"For decades, farm bills have had two major pieces. One piece offers subsidies to farmers; the other offers nutritional aid to Americans in distress, mainly in the form of food stamps . . . Long ago, when subsidies helped many poor farmers, you could defend the whole package as a form of support for those in need. Over the years, however, the two pieces diverged. Farm subsidies became a fraud-ridden program that mainly benefits corporations and wealthy individuals. Meanwhile food stamps became a crucial part of the social safety net. 

"So House Republicans voted to maintain farm subsidies — at a higher level than either the Senate or the White House proposed — while completely eliminating food stamps from the bill. . . .  

"So what’s going on here? Is it just racism? No doubt the old racist canards — like Ronald Reagan’s image of the "strapping young buck" using food stamps to buy a T-bone steak — still have some traction. But these days almost half of food stamp recipients are non-Hispanic whites;  in Tennessee . . .  the number is 63 percent. So it’s not all about race.

"What is it about, then? Somehow, one of our nation’s two great parties has become infected by an almost pathological meanspiritedness, a contempt for what CNBC’s Rick Santelli . . .  called “losers.” If you’re an American, and you’re down on your luck, these people don’t want to help; they want to give you an extra kick. I don’t fully understand it, but it’s a terrible thing to behold."

The job of Democrats and compassionate Independents, is to make sure all of this gets prominent play in the 2014 campaigns.   And what about the religious groups?   This should be a rallying cry to pull a few of the right-wing evangelicals away from the Republican candidates.    You know, as in:   "feed the poor."

Vote these people out of office !!!

Ralph