... Some of the original farm supports were government purchase programs — a form of which still exist today — in which the government buys surplus food to maintain prices and then distributes it to the hungry. It was a direct link, thanks to the feds, between farm and plate. Food stamps also go back to that period — and were originally actual stamps that had to be bought with cash and then doubled in value when used to buy food (sound familiar?). However, times have changed. The modern food-stamps program is one in which low-income people get the benefit (now in the form of a debit card) for free. The program went free in the 1970s and the credit mostly goes to that raging socialist, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kansas). It is now impossible to imagine that a Republican would be an architect of a massive expansion of benefits for the poor. But that’s what happened. And now a very different Republican Party wants to break the link between farm and nutrition policy once and for all.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Jul 2013 21:25:45 +0000
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