A Republican Senate candidate equated food stamp recipients to wild animals in a Facebook post Monday.
The candidate, Dr. Annette Bosworth, is running in the Republican primary to succeed Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.), who is retiring. Bosworth shared a viral image on her personal Facebook page criticizing the food stamp program for inviting dependency.
“The food stamp program is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” the graphic reads. “They proudly report that they distribute free meals and food stamps to over 46 million people on an annual basis.”
“Meanwhile, the National Park Service, run by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us ‘please do not feed the animals.’ Their stated reason for this policy being that … the animals will grow dependent on the handouts, and then they will never learn to take care of themselves,” the post continues. “This concludes today’s lesson. Any questions?”
Unfortunately, the mentality expressed by Dr. Annette Bosworth is not uncommon among conservatives, because it makes recipients of food stamps – or any other government benefits for that matter – much easier to vilify.
The animals compete for survival on a more or less level playing field. True, some of every species are more capable and fit toward survival than others, but nowhere in the animal kingdom is there an artificial concentration of economic power establishing a system of commodity production/distribution and predatory pricing coupled with suppressed (by design) earning capacity for those who do the real, productive, physical work that makes it all happen. In the human realm, the spoils go to those with the greatest wiles or those who are born into privilege.
Compassion for the less fortunate is – or should be – one of the things that distinguishes humanity from the animal kingdom.