The Greedy Old Party Strikes Again

By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News

21 September 13

he Republican Party has once again shown that GOP really stands for Greedy Old Party.

House Republicans voted to cut the food stamp program by $40 billion over the next 10 years. These cuts will hurt millions of people, namely seniors and the poorest among us. But it will most heavily affect low-income families with children where the parents work for a living but don’t make enough to adequately feed their families. Working families with kids are 72 percent of all food stamp beneficiaries.

According to the Census Bureau, food stamps kept four million people out of poverty last year. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the House proposal would cut assistance to nearly four million low-income people in 2014 and an average of three million more each year for the next decade.

Not only are these cuts cruel and inhumane to the people in need who will lose access to food they need to survive, they will also hurt the economy. That’s 40 billion less in spending at retail food markets over the next 10 years. Food producers will also be harmed. Food stamps, or SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), is a targeted program that in the end always results in the purchase of food.

Sure, there is fraud in the system, recipients do sell their cards, but in the end the cards are used to by food at local markets, which stimulates the economy.

It's easy to say that recipients are lazy and taking a handout. The truth is that most of the recipients that people think are just lazy have other factors that contribute to their need for assistance. Mentally disabled people are not walking around with signs saying I’m disabled. They are trying to appear normal.

Forty percent of single adult households (with children) have jobs. Single adult households with pre-school children experience difficulty getting and holding a job due to child care. Sixty-four percent of the married head of households with children (receiving food stamps) have jobs.

Picking on the weak and scapegoating the poor is the Republican way.

Which brings us to Obamacare. The latest GOP maneuver is to say, "Defund it or the government shuts down."

I'll bet many of you believe the Greedy Old Party thinks Obamacare will be a train wreck. I can understand why you would feel that way. They opposed it before it was even proposed. The truth is Obama could have proposed a free market plan that would be a boon to the insurance industry and the GOP would have opposed it. Wait, that’s exactly what he did – it's Romneycare on the national level.

The reality is that the Greedy Old Party is afraid Obamacare will work, not fail. Failure of Obama’s signature legislation would hurt the Democratic Party for decades. Success of Obamacare will mean Democrats living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for years to come. That’s why they are trying to kill it before Americans realize they will be able to afford a doctor’s visit. Before millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions hear the word "covered" from an insurance company instead of "denied."

Okay, I hear some of you saying, "What about the mandate?" I agree that single payer is the way to go. Ask yourselves who pays for single payer. We all would, in our taxes – isn’t that a mandate?

If Congress were ready to pass single payer, I would be 100% behind repealing Obamacare. But Obamacare will help millions of people who need health care, and repealing it would result in unnecessary suffering for uninsured people.

Obamacare will help the economy, make people healthier, and harm the Greedy Old Party – a win win win for America.

Scott Galindez attended Syracuse University, where he first became politically active. The writings of El Salvador's slain archbishop Oscar Romero and the on-campus South Africa divestment movement converted him from a Reagan supporter to an activist for Peace and Justice. Over the years he has been influenced by the likes of Philip Berrigan, William Thomas, Mitch Snyder, Don White, Lisa Fithian, and Paul Wellstone. Scott met Marc Ash while organizing counterinaugural events after George W. Bush's first stolen election. Scott will be spending a year covering the presidential election from Iowa.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.