The GOP failed in its bid to cut food stamps by $40 billion from the Farm Bill, although they did succeed in trimming it by $8 billion. But it is obvious that they are once again on the warpath, this time by reverting to Ronald Reagan's tale about the "Welfare Queen." On Tuesday, Sean Hannity used an example of a surfer in CA who was allegedly gaming the system. That is when Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes jumped the shark:
“This guy doesn’t personify the problem,” McInnes opined. “You see a middle-class white surfer kid. Here in New York, Dominicans go to the grocery store with their food stamps and the barrels that they ship back to the Dominican Republic are available at the grocery store.”
“But it’s more palatable to use this surfer than it is to use people who represent the problem here,” he said.
“Why not? Let’s demonize them!” McInnes exclaimed. “Have you seen the poor? They’re gigantic! They’re overfed!”
“Talk to a hungry child,” Greene suggested.
“I’d love to,” McInnes quipped. “I can’t talk to them, they’re too big, they can’t get off their chair. So, have you ever see a skinny poor American child?”
“Yeah, the sheer volume of it,” McInnes shot back. “It’s just a fat pill.”
We all know the type of person who likes to game the system. That is why Ronald Reagan's tale about "welfare queens" was so popular. But in fact, food stamp fraud is rare and has gone down in recent years. Food stamps are one of the least corrupt systems within government, to the point that when it does happen, it is big news.
And the Food Research and Action Center notes that the relationship between poverty and obesity is much more complicated than popularly believed. The link gives a whole laundry list of findings discussing this relationship. But in a nutshell:
One of the common myths that exists is that all or virtually all low-income people are far more likely to be obese.
Overall, the research for a greater risk of obesity is more consistent for women and children (especially White women and children) of low-income or low-SES than for men.
But the troubling thing about this is the fact that Sean Hannity and others like him still seem to think that slurs against Dominicans are still somehow a matter for debate in the 21st century. But based on the evidence, these crackpot conspiracy theories regarding Dominicans using food stamps to send barrels of food back home have no basis in reality. What McInnes is describing seems to be possible fraud. If he has any credible evidence, then let him turn it over to law enforcement and the FBI so that they can investigate. Otherwise, this amounts to racism and slander.