Feed the hungry, aid the poor

To the editor:

Lately I have heard a lot of moaning about imagined abusers of the welfare system. 

But one cannot take an honest look at America’s current financial woes and conclude that programs such as food stamps are in any way responsible. It just sounds like blaming the victim, an ideology that rationalizes injustice.

Of course, there may indeed be some dishonest people who game the system for some food stamps.  

But the concept of gaming the system should instead conjure overseas tax shelters and golden parachutes for C.E.O.s of failed corporations. Who games the system more than the major banks, all involved in some combination of fraud, bribery, money laundering and rate fixing? They pay billions in fines with the nonchalance of a prince who crumples a parking ticket on the windshield of his sports car.  

So it is disturbing to hear the stereotype of the mythical cheat, especially if the complainer is served by the actual, hardworking poor. 

But even if the fantasies were true, they are mostly irrelevant, since we should focus on feeding the hungry rather than punishing the lazy. Cutting programs in the name of lazy cheats results in punishing hungry people, mostly children and the elderly, for the crime of poverty in America. 

It is tragic that welfare today carries a negative connotation in our society. It simply means wellbeing, as in concern and support toward the standard of living of fellow citizens. 

If citizenship has meaning beyond an egocentric worldview, it must require responsibility to each other. And that means that nobody goes hungry in one of the wealthiest countries on earth in the early 21st century. 

Nobody. 

To enable hunger is shortsighted and heartless. 

To ennoble it, with a moral farce, is cruel. 

NICKY ENRIGHT