Saw this on Facebook

[PatSeg]

"The failure of SNAP payments symbolizes a deeper national sickness: a society that has never fully committed to economic justice because it has never fully confronted the roots of inequality.

Feeding the poor is not charity—it is a test of civilization."

That last line sums it up perfectly.

[wendyb-NC]

1. Excellent quote for these times

It is the truth.

[PatSeg]

2. Yes

And for all those Trump supporting Christians, this is something that reinforces the teachings of Jesus (the parts of the bible that they conveniently ignore).

[halobeam]

38. On another DU thread.. Some 200,000 Little Free Libraries converting to food pantries..

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220762338

There's always something so beautiful about humanity that manages to shine a ray of light in a dark storm. We might have to go looking for it, but it's there to find.

Incase anyone's interested, and able to do so, here's a link to their site. They're having a sale too!

https://littlefreelibrary.myshopify.com/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22317975517&gbraid=0AAAAACk77bfd6PgwKlkwfKyDlhaLc0U9U&gclid=Cj0KCQjwvJHIBhCgARIsAEQnWlD3uSWyxZ9TD8xACYHnqt0M5kaJuLYjbHvy0ugt26vj6qxjV9OI9-YaAlnIEALw_wcB

[BurnDoubt]

3. Lady Madonna

[Haggard Celine]

23. Children at your feet,

wonder how you manage to make ends meet. Looks like Lady Madonna is going to have an even harder time making ends meet.

[BurnDoubt]

32. Shitheads.

[FakeNoose]

4. This quote assumes that SNAP payments have actually failed ... but they haven't failed

SNAP payments were working, they were doing their job efficiently and well.

The Chump administration has cancelled them without any authority or legal mandate to do so. It's just one more presidential failure and proof of negligence on his part.

On top of all this, the cancellation of SNAP is very bad for our economy, as well as for the children and families who are being denied the benefits. Even if he doesn't care about "poor hungry children," Chump had better care about the American merchants and grocers who have the legal and economic power to fight this. He ignores them at his own peril.

[KS Toronado]

6. Every time the Government takes money out of circulation

it hurts our economy, wish more voting Rs understood this.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. With all due respect, my friend, it is NOT failure and negligence.

It is part of his cabal's deliberate,planned intentional destruction of our country.

I no longer think of trump being the key behind these months of destruction of our system.
He's just the dimwitted puppet figurehead.

[FakeNoose]

14. Thank you for agreeing and supporting me

[PatSeg]

10. Yes, it is a lose-lose for pretty much everyone

SNAP is a highly successful program that serves the community, farmers, and the economy as well as individual families.

This was not only cruel, it was exceedingly stupid.

[tblue37]

28. Also farmers who need that market for their product.

[progressoid]

29. Arguably a civilization* wouldn't have an eighth of it's citizens on food support.

*depending on your definition of civilization.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Far too many christians in US shit on Matthew 25:40-43

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

[PatSeg]

11. They ignore such passages

and actually most of the new testament. They like the violence and cruelty of the old testament, especially the eye-for-an-eye parts.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. And they point to Leviticus re homosexuality while they get their tattoos also forbidden by that book. . . . nt

[PatSeg]

20. Yes, they take selective interpretation

to a whole new level. They just cherry-pick the parts that fit their prejudices and then proclaim, "But the bible says".

One Baptist minister who opposed alcohol consumption told me Jesus never drank wine. It was really fruit juice. Well, imagine that! Where they don't like what the bible says, they put it down to a bad translation, but everything else is the word of god. By the time I was done with the guy, he left quite unsettled, probably sure he'd entered the devil's lair. I guess I must have gotten tagged 'heathen' and 'unconvertable' as he never returned.

One thing you can say about Jesus, whether he was a real person or not, is he was very clear in his message. There is no reading between the lines. Hence we rarely hear fundamentalists quoting the new testament, though they do and say a whole lot in the name Jesus.

[progressoid]

30. Right wingers really don't like that part of the Bible

It was one of my faves to to use when I used to spar with them. It often ended with them finding a different verse to counter like "get your house in order" (Isaiah 38:1) Or they'd simply shut down the conversation.

[KS Toronado]

7. Hope I always remember that last line

"Feeding the poor is not charity—it is a test of civilization."

[PatSeg]

12. Yes, it is perfect

I may change my tagline to it.

[rustbeltvoice]

9. Feeding the hungry is not charity, it is justice.

Feeding the hungry is not charity, it is justice. It is recognising the dignity of the person, food is necessary for life. Denying people food is anti-life, and cruel, it is sinful, and evil. In America people who work at low paying jobs qualify for governmental food aid, because the employers are being in effect subsidised. Some get aid, because they are ill, sick, shut-in, aged, and others are children.

[PatSeg]

13. I agree

And as the quote says, it is what civilized people do.

Food, shelter, clothing, and medicine are not privileges, they are basic human rights.

[Haggard Celine]

24. "Denying people food is anti-life, and cruel,

it is sinful and evil." I agree, and I think that doesn't just apply to Americans. People are hungry all over the world despite there being adequate food. Farmers and others need to make a profit on the food they raise, so food often gets denied to the people who need it most. Also, some countries' leaders take the food available to them and give it to their supporters and deny food to others. The UN should work on that problem. That's something they might be able to do.

[LT Barclay]

15. We have never rid ourselves of the royalists or the sycophants who love them.

[PatSeg]

22. That is true

We have a new type of aristocracy today, but it is the same concept that we've seen throughout history. These people feel they are better than everyone else and as such, entitled to rule over us inferior peons.

[surfered]

16. And those claiming to be followers of the One who said "Feed the hungry" won't do what he said to do.

[PatSeg]

25. They rarely do

unless it serves them. The words of Jesus mean very little to these people.

[liberalla]

17. A test of civilization, decency and humanity.

Those qualities probably overlap, but those are the words that immediately came to mind.
The "roots of inequality" could be it's own thread.

[PatSeg]

26. And now we're seeing the aftermath of that inequality

[ChicagoTeamster]

19. Food Stamps (SNAP), developed during the depression, also worked as a price stabilizer

Farmers were dumping their produce and dairy because due to decreased market demand (not human demand) prices dropped so farmers decreased supply. By giving people food stamps, they could buy food to survive and increase demand so farmers had a market. On top of the tariffs, cutting SNAP also screws farmers once again. And, Vice President J.D. Vance has a past investment in AcreTrader, a financial technology platform that allows investors to buy shares of agricultural land. If more farmers go under because there's fewer buyers, there's more land available to buy.

[PatSeg]

27. I hadn't thought of that about

buying up agricultural land.

Pretty soon, they are going to run out of people to screw over. I wonder if someone has a checklist.

[ChicagoTeamster]

35. Farm Aid started in 1985 and there's still one this year. It started with headliners like Willie Nelson and Neil Young

The agro business conglomerates were buying up failing family farms and Farm aid raised money to help them keep their farms. What happened to that spirit?

[cer7711]

21. "Feeding the poor is not charity--it is a test of civilization."

Indeed! Well said.

[Diamond_Dog]

31. King Dump says the SNAP program is full of fraud and corruption

And his sheeple parrot that line.

[PatSeg]

33. That is so often his excuse

for his own illegal and corrupt behavior. And anyone who opposes him is a crook and a liar.

[Diamond_Dog]

34. Absolutely. It's so obviously projection.

[LittleGirl]

41. It's so difficult

To receive any government assistance. They take it away Willy nilly and the farmers suffer too…I just can’t anymore.

[RVN VET71]

36. History will remember the U.S. as the wealthiest nation to fail the test

Even if, by some miracle, we manage to restore democracy and self-respect as a nation, America will always carry the taint of Trump (and, yes, I mean both meanings of the word). It would take a major force of will and determination to get back to where we once belonged -- among the decent nations, that is -- much like Germany after WWII.

[PatSeg]

39. Yes, though hopefully we'll be remembered

for fighting authoritarianism and winning. I'd like to be optimistic, but right now I'm not sure. We've been heading in this direction for so long it seems, I'm not sure we can reverse direction. Of course, I don't think there is any 'getting back to where we once belonged'; we may survive, but we'll never be the same.

On a more positive note, perhaps Trump is the catalyst that we needed to overcome so many socioeconomic issues that we keep backsliding on. Maybe things had to get so bad in order for people to truly wake up from their lethargy and realize we must change or perish.

[Farmer-Rick]

37. A society is not judged on how well they keep their kings

But on how they treat the weakest among them.

No one but idiots look at the Nazi regime and think how wonderful that Hitler and his generals got all that wealth to enjoy. No, what every person remembers about Nazi society is how they murdered millions of innocent people.

[PatSeg]

40. Exactly

If Trump had any grasp of history at all, he'd realize that.