Building the Democratic voting base

Ah, yes.  Looks like the presidents policies are working.

With all the praise fellow Dems are giving to this administration regarding the economic numbers, which are now just beginning to show signs of slight improvement, I have to wonder if they will want to spread the word on this latest example of government for your own good.  I’m certain the 53%’ers will want to hear about this.  Nothing helps to inspire faith in government like watching your tax dollars at work.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service is providing “Outreach Grants” of up to $75,000 to non-profit organizations and others to improve access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP for short, but better know as food stamps) by low-income persons and families.

Yes, sir.  The government is offering valuable cash and prizes - well, OK, just cash – to those that can build up the base of food stamp (now a plastic card) users.

According to the USDA FNS website:

“The purpose of outreach grants is to implement and learn more about effective strategies to inform and educate potentially eligible low income people, who are not currently participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), about the nutrition benefits of the program, eligibility rules, and how to apply.

State and local food stamp offices and for-profit organizations are not eligible for these grants. Applicants receive up to $75,000 per grant for outreach activities lasting for 1 to 2 years, depending on the project.”

Apparently, this administration does not feel that 46 million Americans on food stamps, or one out of every seven, is a big enough number.  That is up about two-thirds from four years ago.  The government spent a record $71.8 billion on the program in the last fiscal year, or about 12 percent of the national grocery bill.

This certainly is not to say that there aren’t many who truly benefit and use the program for its intended purpose.  But if the economy, according to Democrats, is moving so fabulously in the proper direction, why do we have an explosion of growth to a government program such as this?  Why are we offering grants to organizations to find new ways of getting more get on government assistance? With a minimal amount of oversight in proportion to this increase, how much waste, fraud and mismanagement do you think will go on?  Only in the land of hope, change, unicorns and rainbows could something like this be viewed as a positive.

Of course, the liberal/progressive/statist types will howl when this program is criticized by someone who may have been a venture capitalist, or maybe even by someone that simply wears sweater vests.  After all, anyone who gets worked up over things like increased deficit spending or an increase of people on government assistance must be a heartless, mean spirited capitalist.

In addition, the USDA FNS website explains:

“There are many reasons why eligible people, including seniors and Hispanics, do not participate in the SNAP. These include unawareness of eligibility, confusion about program rules and requirements, a complex application process, and a lack of transportation and pride.” 

Pride.  A hindrance to government dependence.  That is the thinking of the far left and this administration.  And just where do those silly ideals of self-reliance and bootstrap mentality come from?

Instead of encouraging self-reliance, instead of fighting food stamp fraud, instead of working on the path of getting government out of the way of job creation, we now are rewarding others to help get more people on the government payroll.

After all, this is an election year, and making sure that you have a solid core voting base is essential.  And what a better way to build that base up by creating dependency, then explain to the base that those mean old republicans want to take it away.

Yes, indeed.  Another Obama success story.

Update:  Just so all of my liberal pals don’t start screaming that this wasn’t an original Obama program (yes, grants were given out under Bush), the speed and efficiency of its expansion lies directly with the Obama administration.  I’ve added the graph for easy illustration.