# Replacing food stamps with real food for poor **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 17, 2009, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742 "2009-08-17T16:57:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![bri1600bv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@bri1600bv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bri1600bv)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/181 "2009-08-20T19:37:19Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > You should cull the steak and lobster out of the food waste. Poor people do not deserve to eat that kind of food. Perhaps it could be ground into hamburger so they are not able to properly gauge what a low undeserving lot they are. What is they accidentally eat something above their caste? Could we pass laws against it? We should have all poor people wear the same color clothes. That would help direct our disgust much more accurately. I realize you’re kidding but I like the spirit of that. Perhaps you could have a state worker inspect the dinner of the downtrodden…if it’s too good for them, the worker will spit on it. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/182 "2009-08-20T19:38:56Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > We should have all poor people wear the same color clothes. You’re actually going to allow them clothes that have been dyed a _color_? Colors cost money, mister. ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/183 "2009-08-20T19:54:01Z")
> [@MLS](#): > > Yeah, right. Tell that to the people – and I know two of them personally – who would love to hold down a job, but can’t because of disabilities. Not obvious disabilities like blindness or missing limbs, but true medical disabilities regardless. For example, a chronic and intermittent illness that will limit a person to maybe 20 hours of useful activity a week on average. Why not get a part-time job, you say? Because you never know which 20 hours that will be. Nobody will hire someone who can’t be counted on to be able to work on any given day. The US Government can BE that “someone” ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/184 "2009-08-20T20:04:30Z")
We should color code people, so they can only eat what they are qualified to eat, by income. Do it in the colors of the spectrum. Black at the bottom, white at the top, and ROY G. BIV in between, say. And we can program a huge, all-observing computer to watch people and make sure they only consume things that people of their class are allowed to eat. Wouldn’t that make life perfect, friends? ---
**Author:** ![Kearsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kearsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kearsen)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/185 "2009-08-20T20:07:43Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I have another question – since it’s now all done by an EBT card, are things like toilet paper, diapers, and pads and tampons covered? ( > Oh, and **bri1600bv** , I STRONGLY suggest you do NOT say anything about restricting it to only the cheapest tampons/pads there are. Unless you use them, I’d say kindly leave it to those of us familiar with these products) Not with the EBT card but there is another government program in place for those things. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/186 "2009-08-20T20:59:51Z")
> [@bri1600bv](#): > > I realize you’re kidding but I like the spirit of that. > > Perhaps you could have a state worker inspect the dinner of the downtrodden…if it’s too good for them, the worker will spit on it. Some of your posts really, REALLY are starting to creep me out. I realize you’re kidding (at least, I hope to god you are), but that’s a disgusting attitude to take. **Kearsen** – that’s good to know. I also thought of a suggestion (a REAL one). Perhaps you could send out a monthly newsletter, with tips on how to save money, nutrition tips, recipes, etc. Most people pay attention to the flyers you get in the mail from the local groccery stores. Check to see what’s on sale (and even then, if you didn’t get one, you can always pick one up when you get to the store), compare prices, etc. Duh. That’s pretty obvious and I don’t know too many people who don’t do that. Now I would definitely advise buying the Sunday paper. That’s where the coupons are (at least around here), and you can save a TON of money. The _Pittsburgh Post-Gazette_ Sunday edition is about, oh, $1.50 or so? And there’s TONS of coupons there. I think that would take a LOT less time and energy than making Purina People Chow[sub]TM[/sub]. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/187 "2009-08-20T21:06:12Z")
All this lobster talk, and I don’t think anyone’s pointed out that before it was dubbed gourmet it was basically sea trash fed to the servants. And really, if America were to move to a more European diet, away from constant snacking and empty calories and gallons of glucose fructose fillers, both poor people and those and diets (not that they are never the same) would be better off having a smaller portion of pricier, real, unprocessed food that they truly enjoy than a sack of third-rate foodstuffs of dubious origin. IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/188 "2009-08-20T21:12:38Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > We should color code people, so they can only eat what they are qualified to eat, by income. Do it in the colors of the spectrum. Black at the bottom, white at the top, and ROY G. BIV in between, say. And we can program a huge, all-observing computer to watch people and make sure they only consume things that people of their class are allowed to eat. Wouldn’t that make life perfect, friends? You mean infra-red at the bottom and ultraviolet at the top. Mistakes like that are treason. ---
**Author:** ![Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/189 "2009-08-20T22:08:19Z")
> [@bri1600bv](#): > > If they don’t like it, they’re free to use their own money to buy whatever they want. I think if I were a poor American, I would buy a gun and shoot rich Americans. And then eat them. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/190 "2009-08-20T23:13:02Z")
> [@Sandwich](#): > > I think if I were a poor American, I would buy a gun and shoot rich Americans. And then eat them. \*“I’m gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the rich people I see, I’m gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the rich people I see. When I kill all the rich people I see, then rich guy he won’t bother me, I’m gonna get me a shotgun and kill all the rich people I see. Then I’ll get a rich woman who’s wearing a navy blue sweater..” \* [sub]with appologies to Garrett Morris[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/191 "2009-08-20T23:21:31Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > You mean infra-red at the bottom and ultraviolet at the top. Mistakes like that are treason. Of course, friend Lemur. But I was, ah, simplifying for the soon-to-be infrareds reading this. You understand, they’re not cleared for the science of radiation. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/192 "2009-08-20T23:29:31Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > But property rights aren’t natural rights. John Locke would disagree. He wrote that natural rights are life, liberty, and property, and as natural rights they couldn’t be surrendered in the social contract. > [@](#): > > You have no more natural right to the house you live in than a wolf has a right to the den she dug. You created it, but why can’t I just move in and force you out into the forest? Because you built it? What gave you the right to build it? Abraham Lincoln said it better than I could: “Property is the fruit of labor…property is desirable…is a positive good in the world. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence.” As for where natural rights come from, they come from Our Creator, or Nature, however you choose to look at it. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/193 "2009-08-20T23:59:21Z")
Of course property rights are desirable, didn’t I make that clear? They are desirable because they make civilization possible, not because they were given by God. Even if we suppose property rights are natural rights, what then? Suppose you build a house and have a natural right to the house, what happens to the house when you die? Who has a natural right to the house then? Your children? Why? They didn’t build the house, why do they have a right to the house? There are parts of our infrastructure that were built over thousands of years. Who owns the works of Shakespeare? His descendents? Everyone? Why? Who owns the White House? Who owns Hoover Dam? Who owns Yellowstone Park? The United States? How did the United States come to own them instead of some Indian tribe? We fought them in a war, and they all died, and now it’s ours? That’s fine, but then why can’t I fight you in a war and take your house? ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/194 "2009-08-21T00:03:19Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > You’re actually going to allow them clothes that have been dyed a _color_? Colors cost money, mister. Greyish-tan is a colour. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/195 "2009-08-21T00:06:11Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > … I can’t think of a rational reason why the taxpayers should pay for unnecessary food expenses. … > … surely we can agree that potato chips, candy, chocolate, and soda have no nutritional value and should not be eligible, no? Umm, because corporations that produce and sell potato chips, candy, chocolate, and soda make campaign donations to politicians to make sure the rules don’t get changed so they can profit from the food stamp program to the greatest degree? What’s good for [del]GM[/del] Pepsico, Hershey’s and Frito-Lay is good for America! > [@](#): > > [**Food Stamp Act of 1964 - August 31, 1964**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_Stamp_Program#Food_Stamp_Act_of_1964_-_August_31.2C_1964) > > On January 31, 1964, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson requested Congress to pass legislation making the FSP permanent. … > … **Among the official purposes of the Food Stamp Act of 1964 were strengthening the agricultural economy** and providing improved levels of nutrition among low-income households; however, the practical purpose was to bring the pilot FSP under Congressional control and to enact the regulations into law. … > … • The eligibility for purchase with food stamps of all items intended for human consumption except alcoholic beverages and imported foods ( **the House version would have prohibited the purchase of soft drinks, luxury foods, and luxury frozen foods** ) … What’s good for [del]GM[/del] agrobusiness is good for America! Now which sounds more likely; The Senate left it out because they thought it wouldn’t be fair to FS recipients if they couldn’t purchase soft drinks, luxury foods, and luxury frozen foods. OR The corporations that produce and sell soft drinks, luxury foods, and luxury frozen foods wanted their slice of the FS pie too, and the Senate made sure they got it? Is there really any doubt about which of the above was the reason? Are ya all gonna just continue to bitch and moan about the poor, and ignore the 8,000,000 lb gorilla in the room? CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/196 "2009-08-21T01:12:00Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > John Locke would disagree. He wrote that natural rights are life, liberty, and property, and as natural rights they couldn’t be surrendered in the social contract. > > Abraham Lincoln said it better than I could: > > “Property is the fruit of labor…property is desirable…is a positive good in the world. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence.” > > As for where natural rights come from, they come from Our Creator, or Nature, however you choose to look at it. I assume then, since you believe in inherent property rights, you’re all for returning the United States back to Native Americans? ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/197 "2009-08-21T05:01:55Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > Even if we suppose property rights are natural rights, what then? Suppose you build a house and have a natural right to the house, what happens to the house when you die? We don’t have to suppose anything. The house goes to whomever I leave it to. Is that a difficult concept for you? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/198 "2009-08-21T06:15:05Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > We don’t have to suppose anything. The house goes to whomever I leave it to. Is that a difficult concept for you? The house that exists on stolen land? See that’s the problem with “natural” property rights. The only natural rights you have to anything was whatever wasn’t worth the trouble to take by force. History is littered with countless examples of this, such as the victimization of the Natives. “Property” rights are a function of society. It isn’t mother nature who handles doling the house deed out to whoever is your aire, it’s society. Society protects the weak from the strong. If you plan to advocate absolute property rights that extend beyond society, how soon do plan to vacate the Americas and return your piece of land to it’s historically rightful owners? Also, this needs said, if I get another warning, or banned, so be it. **bri1600bv** , you’re a bigot. A filthy rotten piece of shit bigot. As some one raised “poor”, I am not morbidly obese, nor stupid, nor lazy. Nor are most poor people. Yet all your posts include slurs and stereotypes about how stupid, lazy, and fat the poor are. You wish death on us, to die in the streets, well I’m a poor person,do you wish me personally to die in the streets? ---
**Author:** ![Dripping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d2c977/32.png) [@Dripping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dripping)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/199 "2009-08-21T17:12:05Z")
> [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](#): > > whoever is your aire Your what? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![ThatsNotMyName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/76d3ee/32.png) [@ThatsNotMyName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThatsNotMyName)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742/200 "2009-08-21T21:34:05Z")
Hello, I saw this thread and felt that this should be posted here. I am a 20 year old college student, I have only ever had 2 jobs both of which terminated within a 4 month period because I do not own a car and the job was a 30 min drive. I use to receive food stamps from Social Services. I have been trying to get a job since I was 18, and have yet to find one in town. Tell me, should I be punished because I do not live near anywhere hiring? Should I be punished because my parents won’t assist me in getting a car, a place to stay, or even food for me and my wife? Should I have to be punished because maybe I can’t keep a job I can not walk to? Where I am there is little or no help for a young college student who dose not want/have children, so why in this case should I be punished? Did you know in the state of Maryland a homeless man who dose not wish to work can receive up to $210.00 in food stamps assistance, but me, a full time college student on the list but not in the school’s work study program will receive nothing. Unlike my mother’s homeless boyfriend, I have to work 20 hours a week to get food stamps assistance, and beyond that I will receive a reduced amount because I am working. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/replacing-food-stamps-with-real-food-for-poor/506742.md?page=11)