Paul Krugman tells you what you need to know about the vote by House Republicans to drop the food stamp program from the Farm Bill:
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.
And later:
To fully appreciate what just went down, listen to the rhetoric conservatives often use to justify eliminating safety-net programs. It goes something like this: “You're personally free to help the poor. But the government has no right to take people's money” -- frequently, at this point, they add the words “at the point of a gun” -- “and force them to give it to the poor.”
It is, however, apparently perfectly O.K. to take people’s money at the point of a gun and force them to give it to agribusinesses and the wealthy.
Now, some enemies of food stamps don't quote libertarian philosophy; they quote the Bible instead. Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, for example, cited the New Testament: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Sure enough, it turns out that Mr. Fincher has personally received millions in farm subsidies.
You should read the whole column. Truly, there is nothing good about the modern Republican Party. They don't even have good intentions. Their only intention is to redistribute wealth from the non-rich to the rich. Periodically they take a break from that project to demonize homosexuals or to humiliate women, but mostly it's about redistributing wealth upwards.
Somehow, though, this must be all Obama's fault. You know, because he doesn't schmooze enough.
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As a Republican I am ashamed of the party. At least Newt had some novel ideas and actually helped the poor while governor of his state.
Uh, Larry, Newt Gingrich was never governor of any state; nor, sfaik has he ever done anything that "actually helped the poor" (scoldings and sermons don't actually help, ya know).
You are right about not being governor but I disagree with you about his work in the GA House. He had sponsored programs for education including reading for minority students. Please do not be a blind partisan.
Let's take a step back and look at this. One of the problems with the House and Senate is the the way things that have nothing to do with one another are lumped together.
Separating these things is good. If the Farm bill can't stand on its own, then it shouldn't. The same goes for food stamps.
@#3 - He never served in the GA House, either. His first (and only) office was in the United States House.
As I understand the history, food stamps were an intergral part of farm subsidies from the gitgo. I wonder what percentage of farm products produced in the USA are sold to food stamp recipients. That was the initial goal of the program, to enlarge the market for farm products.
Wait, Krugman is a Republican?
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