20% In The U.S. Struggle To Afford Food

The chart above is from a recent Gallup Poll, and was made with surveying large monthly samples of nationwide adults -- the latest survey being done in the month of August with 15,729 respondents, with a very low margin of error of only 0.8 points. Monthly surveys in 2012 and earlier were even larger (between 28,000 and 30,000 respondents), and had a margin of error of only 0.6.

The poll showed that about 20% of all Americans (or one out of five) have experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months (by not having enough money to buy needed food). That figure is the highest it's been since 2008, in the Bush recession. And it's a shameful percentage for a nation generally regarded as the richest nation in the world.

Obviously, this is a situation that needs to be addressed by our government. But the Republicans in Congress have a different view. They don't think the $4 billion cut in the food stamp program approved by the Senate is nearly enough, and the House Republicans are planning to cut around 5 times that amount. And they are planning to vote on this within a few days, while the attention of the American public is on Syria (and a possible attack by the U.S.).

Calling this Republican effort hard-hearted is an understatement. It is downright immoral, because the reason for it is to keep the rich (who are making record amounts of income) from having to pay a little more in taxes (even though they are paying a smaller amount in taxes than at anytime before the Bush administration, and since World War II). These Republicans know that a majority of the public is in favor of raising taxes a little on the richest Americans (who have gobbled up 95% of income growth between 2009 and 2012), and that's why they are going to try and sneak it by while the public is thinking of other things.

What makes this even crazier is that these same Republicans claim to be the only political representatives of christianity -- a religion whose leading figure (Jesus) preached that his followers had a moral responsibility to help the poor and sick, and that it would be almost impossible for the rich to enter heaven (harder than a camel going through the eye of a needle). Why then, do the policies of congressional Republicans deny aid to the poor while making the rich even richer? Do they not understand (or care about) the teachings of the religion they claim to represent?

Even us atheists know better than that. We understand that, whether a person is religious or not, common decency and humanity dictate that we are our brother's keeper -- and it is the responsibility of all people to help those less fortunate (and that the easiest and most effective way to do this is through government). Why can't the congressional Republicans (the self-appointed "protectors" of christianity) understand that? Or do they understand and just not care -- as long as they can get richer and re-elected?