During the government shutdown, one topic of debate hit and hit hard: funding for social programs. This is not something I have thought much about forming an opinion on, but after seeing numerous posts on Facebook calling into question the legitimacy of food stamps and giving an impromptu, impassioned speech on the importance of the Head Start program, I realized I have a pretty strong opinion on these things. I also realized that many Americans seem to be almost cold and completely desensitized to the struggles we face in our own country.
Rush Limbaugh recently spewed his disdain over food stamps on one of his live shows. I listened to most of it before feeling bogged down with bile, but took away one great point. He discussed the child of a woman dependent on food stamps being described in a newscast as a “fat” baby. This almost made me wonder if Limbaugh would be happier if the baby looked malnourished.
I have heard a lot about food-stamp programs being corrupt and, to a small degree, they are. If there is a system, people will figure out a way to abuse it. It is just a fact of life. However, I would rather have my tax dollars feed a few people who do not need the help than have a child go to bed with a hungry stomach, wondering where he or she will get the next meal. I know the system needs help, but when people try to take it away from those who do not need it, they will also take it away from the people who do.
About 9.8 percent of children in the United States were considered to be food-insecure in 2010 by the USDA. This is a statistic I find unacceptable. If you complain about the woman at the store buying groceries with food stamps not looking “poor” enough, stop and think about the children the program is feeding that will get a breakfast before school or go to sleep without hunger pangs. Then, before you open your mouth, think which one is more important to you — a corrupted system or a hungry child.
The Head Start program gives a preschool education to families who would not otherwise be able to afford it. Although many see preschool as something that allows a parent some time to themselves, there is much more to it than that. Studies have shown that children who attended preschool did better in all subjects and were even more likely to graduate high school.
This is pertinent to our education system: We can use it to alleviate already-brutal learning gaps in students of lower-income households. Without at least an equal education, most students of these households will not go to college and are less likely to receive a livable wage. This is how our poverty line grows and grows. This is how the gap between the classes keeps becoming more and more evident. If a child’s fate is all but decided for them by his or her inability to afford a preschool, he or she will just become another statistic in a system that has failed them.
Our system might be corrupt, but I refuse to stand idly by while this gap continues to grow. Those who cheat the tax system to keep more money in their Swiss bank accounts are as guilty those trying to get government aid when they do not need it. Greed is greed, and it is not something that will ever benefit us as a country, as a culture or as a person.