Editorial

How to punish the poor

Take away choice and dignity, too

It's not enough that Arkansas' poor have little or no money; now those in state government convinced that they know what's best for the poor would take away their dignity, too. By telling them just how they may spend the few dollars they do have. "I want the kids in our state to have sippy cups full of milk and juice, not Mountain Dew and Pepsi," says state Representative Mary Bentley of Perryville and Social Engineering.

Big Sister knows best, so why not press the poor to do as she says? Especially since the hard work and financial burden of enforcing her dictates can be left to others. If she's right, then why not pass a regulation saying the children of the poor will all be well-behaved, perfectly adjusted boys and girls, too?

Representative Bentley says she wants our all-knowing state government to "pioneer" changes in the food-stamp program. Our neighbors across the border in Tennessee had already thought about doing much the same thing--until it occurred to the sponsor of such legislation that the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn't approve such exceptions. Why not? Because somebody still awake in the federal government noted that recipients of food stamps might misuse them and skirt the rules. Which is probably going on often enough as it is.

It turns out that the poor aren't all that different from the rest of us when when it comes to buying and eating habits. Reformer, reform thyself before starting in on those society tends to look down on. Charlie Spakes, president of Arkansas Grocers and Retail Merchants Association, notes that its members already have paid for expensive software that eliminates all kinds of items, like alcohol and tobacco products. Why add still more to the computerized list?

Kathy Webb, a former state representative but still a full-time reformer, notes that many of the poor live where supermarkets are few and far between, and so don't have much access to fresh, wholesome food like fresh apples and this morning's bread. In other words, O, what a tangled web we weave when first we set out to conceive a better world, at least for others.

Christie Jordan, who directs the Food Bank of Northeast Arkansas, foresees that food banks across the state are going to be overwhelmed by Arkies/Arkansawyers/Arkansans--take your choice of monikers--who may have food stamps but find they can't use them. And then go looking to the local pantry to make sure the kids have breakfast tomorrow. Or as Ms. Jordan puts it: "If food-stamp dollars buy less at the store, then the clients are going to be looking somewhere else to get the food that they need to feed their families." Gosh, can it be? Can the poor be just like the rest of us who don't have to go through a long, degrading procedure to obtain the basic necessities of life?

Lest we forget, man does not live by bread alone, but ought to be assured a minimal respect--even by those of us who think of ourselves as their patrons and benefactors.

There has seldom been a better way to assure liberty, equality and democracy, let alone the rule of law, than a common currency that treats all alike--not some government-issued scrip whose face value fluctuates with whatever their betters vainly decree. For the poor aren't as easy to fool as our utopians would have us believe. That way lies not utopia but another dystopian end to this same old story. Enough already.

Let's pull down the curtain on this sad melodrama. And perhaps focus on the real problems in Arkansas. Or aren't there enough?

Editorial on 01/23/2017

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