One-Sixth of the Nation is on Food Stamps

From various Internet sources: Like most government welfare programs, food stamps was meant to be a last resort in desperate times for those who have had drastic difficulties with their financial situation. It was never meant to be a program from cradle to grave nor was it to be a generational thing, passed down like a precious antique. The Wall Street Journal sadly noted today that 43 million Americans are on food stamps. The state with the smallest percentage of citizens on food stamps is Wyoming, and the "state" with the largest percentage collecting food stamps is the District of Columbia. Within the shadows of the Capitol dome, more than one-fifth of the District's population is on food stamps.

My wife and I have noticed more and more of late the number of people in Walmart and the local super markets pay for some or all of the items in their shopping carts with Lone Star Cards. These are cards like credit cards issued by the state of Texas in lieu of food stamps. We've learned not to shop Walmart around the 12th day of the month because that is when all the Lone Star Cards are replenished with additional funds. There's gobs of women, some with several kids hanging on the cart, crowding the aisles and checkout lines. The carts are bulging with all manner of products. Men are never seen checking out with Lone Star Cards, always women. But as the women leave the store they almost always are met by a man that helps unload the cart (sometimes two carts) into vehicles I'd be proud to own, but can't afford. Just today a Lincoln Aviator SUV parked in front of us when we parked our car at a local grocery store. By chance the woman checked out in front of us. She paid for most of her items with a Lone Star Card and paid cash for the other items not acceptable for welfare payment. They know which items are acceptable and which are not and keep them segregated.

My wife and I are children of the Great Depression. Times then were harsh and God knows our parents could have used some kind of assistance, but they did not seek welfare. It was meant only for those in the most dire of circumstances and need. We find it disheartening that so many people today see welfare as a way of life, not a life line. Why should the other five-sixths of us have to support the one-sixth that make welfare a way of life? It gives cause to pause and contemplate if the welfare system isn't more fraught with fraud than with compassion and real need.