Food Stamp cut, heartless or blessing

    "House Republicans vote to cut $40 billion from the food stamp program was 'heartless,'" is the lead in Sunday's New York Times. The continued touting of some politicians and interest groups who shout, 'millions of children are going to starve,' do they really have the people's best interest at heart, or are they only looking for their own political and monetary gain.
   Annually, the food stamp program costs taxpayers over $70 billion, while over $780 million of that is reported each year in fraud and abuse. How many able-bodied people are sucking money out of the taxpayers, and depriving someone who really needs the funds? People like California's surfer dude and poster child for food stamp abuse, Jason Greenslate. Fox News reported that Greenslate admits that he refuses to even look for a job, while he enjoys sushi and other exotic foods at the taxpayer's expense.
   Greenslate isn't the only one who abuses the system; it happens everyday as people sell their food stamps to purchase drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and other amenities that deprive their children of even the most basic of food needs. However, we have school breakfast, lunch, and dinner programs for children who meet the poverty levels. If these children are being fed at school, why are we handing food stamps to their parents to sell and purchase in order to support their own addictions?
   Entitlement programs have not always existed. These are new tools for politicians and interest groups to use in order to gain votes--a type of bribe.  An old proverb states, "Feed a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but teach the man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime."  So, wouldn't it benefit not only the country, but also the individual, if you teach the man how to support himself, rather than having the hard-working taxpayer support him? Teach the man how to support himself, then he becomes an asset and not a liability.
   Who really gains when those in poverty are given cell phones, food stamps, and government checks? Even a man born with no arms can work by taking his disability and turning it into an ability. Richie Parker, 30, grew up with a chorus of doubters telling him what he couldn’t do without hands – ride a bike, drive a car or find a good job. But Parker never listened, and today he drives his own car and is a respected engineer for NASCAR’s most winning organization, Hendrick Motorsports (Positive Periodicals, August 9, 2013).
    Sometimes you have to make the man fish, in order for him to become independent, rather than handing him the fish and making him dependent on someone else. The House is cutting $40 billion in food stamp subsidies out of that more than $70 billion over a ten year period, not in one year. Think about it, people! Why has the program more than doubled since 2009? Who really benefits from entitlement growth--the person collecting, or the politician giving?