If we starve them they’ll get a job.

Warning: Mild profanity ahead. 

Sometimes I sit and pray to no one in particular that politicians are just too dumb to understand how the bills they pass actually affect people in everyday life.  The reason this prayer sinks like a lead balloon from my lips is because I am unfortunate enough to know that politicians tend to know when their bills are shitty-- they just don’t care.

Congress just voted to cut 40 billion dollars from SNAP over the next ten years. SNAP recipients will lose about 30 dollars a month if not all of their of their food assistance benefits in 2014. Many others that end up needing SNAP will be unable to get any help in 2014. The average amount per a meal per a person will be less than $1.40 in 2014. The Democrats claim that 4 million low income folks, including 170,000 veterans will lose their benefits due to these cuts.

Take a minute and let that sink in.

Republicans don’t care that your family goes hungry. It’s all just political pandering to them. If you’re poor you don’t vote so why should they care about you?

Democrats probably feel really bad that your family is going hungry, but not necessarily bad enough to do anything substantive about it. It’s not like your family has a lot of money to pay them to champion your cause, you know, because you’re poor. Why should they stick out their neck for you?

I see you over there, mother-of-three.  You’re working 50 hours a week between two shitty part time jobs and still not making enough to keep up with your bills and keep food on the table for your family. They think you’re lazy.

I see you over there, soldier.  I know you’re struggling with physical and mental scars from fighting in a war that was probably started before you even were old enough to vote. You came home and we all thanked you for your service, but now you simply can’t find a job or the self-medicating you've been doing to deal with what happened makes it damn hard to keep a job. See, they think you just don’t want to work because we make it too easy for you to be poor.

I see you over there, fourth grader. I know your stomach is growling so loudly in class you are afraid your other classmates will hear it. I've watched you struggle to concentrate in class, but your head hurts and you are just too tired to listen to the math problem your teacher is going over.  They think middle class folks shouldn't have to pay for your mistakes.

And don’t think I forgot about you, grandpa. I know that if your darn legs would work right you’d gladly go back to work. You've worked hard all your life, why should now be any different? I've watched you ration off saltines so you could save up to buy grandma’s Alzheimer’s medication next week. The doctor’s got you all on more medicines than you could possibly need and you certainly can’t afford them. See, they think you are abusing the system.

I’m a Food Justice advocate. I see hunger in my community every day. I know that SNAP doesn't end hunger. I know it’s a band-aide, but, my god, can’t folks, at least, keep the damn band-aides till we figure out how to solve it? 

Y'all, "bending the arc of history towards justice" isn't a sprint, it's a marathon. So, we take the punch. We get back up. But this time we get up ready to knock them out. As my favorite social justice advocate once said, " You don't need a vote to raise hell!" 

Start getting together with folks in your community and start hashing some stuff out. Meeting at the grassroots and talking to one another is the only place we've ever found real change anyway. The system is broken; time to plant the seeds of a new one.