By Zoe Hughes
Page Editor
When lawmakers decide to cut funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, they are not the ones choosing between groceries and rent. They are not the ones standing in a checkout line, quietly calculating whether they can afford the total. They are not the ones explaining to their kids why dinner looks a little smaller this week.
SNAP is a lifeline for many families. It keeps millions of Americans from going hungry. But every few years, it becomes an easy target for budget cuts.
Politicians frame reductions as “fiscal responsibility,” yet the real cost is measured in empty refrigerators, skipped meals and the quiet shame that too often accompanies poverty.
Those who make these decisions are insulted by their impact. They debate the numbers from air-conditioned committee rooms and offices far removed from food pantries and corner stores. They do not rely on food stamps. They do not worry about running out of milk before payday. Because they live comfortably, the consequences of their votes remain abstract. The human toll is invisible from the top floors of government buildings and corporate towers.
This detachment is not new. History is filled with examples of leaders who ignored the struggles of their
people until it was too late. Think of Marie Antoinette, saying, “Let them eat cake,” when told the French people had no bread. While her citizens starved, she threw lavish parties and feasts, convinced that her privilege placed her above their pain. We all know how that story ended, with revolution. When those in
power lose sight of the people they serve, resentment builds. Hunger becomes anger.
If the people crafting these policies had to live for a month on the average SNAP benefit, they might think twice before calling it excessive. They might understand that poverty is not a moral failure, but a systemic issue that demands compassion, not condemnation. They might see that people using SNAP are often working long hours, raising families, and doing everything “right,” but still coming up short in an economy that increasingly rewards the few at the top.
Instead, we see the same pattern: those in power deciding what is enough for those who have the least. The gap between decision-makers and the people their decisions affect grows wider, and trust erodes.
Food insecurity should not be a partisan issue. It’s a human one. If we truly want to build a fair and functioning society, we need leaders who not only listen but also learn. Leaders who are willing to step outside their privilege long enough to understand what struggle really looks like.
Until that happens, SNAP recipients will continue paying the price for choices made in rooms they’ll never enter.
Leave a Reply