Food Stamp Regulation is a Gray Issue and Raises More Questions

COMMENTARY | Food stamps, and the whether or not the government should regulate what products are purchased with that money, is not a crisp black and white issue. It is all shades of gray.

When someone else pays for your food, you should only be able to buy what they tell you that you can

If you were to borrow $100 from another person, would you want them to tell you that you can only spend it on one particular item? Of course not, because you probably had a particular intention in mind for that $100. Whether it was to pay a bill or eat out is your decision. The only thing the loaner should be concerned about is whether or not they will be recouping the loan. It is their choice to either give you the money with no strings attached, or loan it to you with the expectation of being paid back.

If the government is giving you food stamps, than they have the right to dictate what you buy with those Food Stamps.

Legally, they probably do have that right. The problems arise when they actually act upon that right and indeed do dictate what can and cannot be purchased with food stamps. In essence, this type of regulation is dictating what the American family is allowed to eat. Do you want the government telling you what you can feed your family?

You may scoff at this question, but in reality, the government can easily overstep its bounds and push food regulations into the common people, especially with the excuse that a huge percentage of the population is statistically obese. They do, after all, create laws to protect the people. Would they not be in their right to protect the people from being obese by telling us what we can and cannot eat?

Regulations are needed because people abuse the food stamp programs

All charitable programs of any kind will have abusers. This is a fact that goes with human nature because human nature allows us to choose to go either way, good or bad. If you are going to create a program to help those who need it, you had better understand that there will be people that will find a way to get into your program without actually being “needy.” As well, there will be those who figure out how to use your program to their advantage, despite whatever guidelines or precautions you have in place.

To regulate the Food Stamp program would require some additional cost. Yes, a large chunk of it would probably fall upon the grocery stores, who would need to update their databases, but what of those stores that do not have computerized systems? Would the government have to crack down on them if it were to be discovered that they were selling unauthorized products to food stamp users? Or will those stores simply not be able to accept food stamps? What if a food stamp user is not close to a store that does accept food stamps? Gas stations and convenience stores will not be happy if food stamp regulations go through because most of their products are on the list.

In a way, regulating the food stamps would hurt the economy.

If you want a cookie, go bake some, it’s much cheaper than store-bought and you can buy the ingredients with food stamps.

What is the true reality of this? There are many food stamp users who do not have the appliances, tools, or skills necessary to make fresh homemade food. Shall we spend more money on educating food stamp users on how to make homemade foods? Should the government make sure everyone has a working oven?

Plus, it may seem like it is so much cheaper to make everything from scratch, but often it isn’t. A cheap package of cookies can be purchased for less than $3. Or for those who do have working ovens, a bag of cookie mix can be purchased for $1 and you only need to add eggs and water.

Making cookies from scratch would require flour, butter, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, eggs, and oil. This process is only cheaper if these were ingredients you kept on hand all the time. In modern times, these items are not as commonly found as they once were. Vanilla, by the way, is outrageously expensive.Try looking for a decent sized bottle that will last a while, and it is very difficult to find. Even the small bottles cost more than is logical for one ingredient.

Cooking homemade meals also require spices, of which many are very hard to find at an affordable price. Salt, black pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder are about the only spices that are cheap. Most families like a little more flavor in their food than that, and you can get more flavor if you purchase cheap processed meals.

It’s hard-working budget minded people who pay taxes that feed the people on food stamps

Unless you have been on food stamps yourself, one should not judge those who are. Many food stamp users are in fact, people who either worked or are currently working, and they simply need more to supplement their income in order to have a grocery budget. They have paid or are paying taxes just like you, and are simply falling back on a system that placed there for them. You should not group users and abusers in the same category.

Anything not on the list should be purchased with their own money

While this sounds sensible, it is not a reality. Yes, there are some of you who are able to pay for extraneous foods out of your own pocket. There are however, a large portion that will not have that extra money, especially when they have to pay for other necessities not covered by food stamps, such as toilet paper, soap, shampoo, and pet food.

Before you launch into a rant about how people on food stamps should not own pets, be aware that many food stamp users were once working families. At the time they adopted their pet, they had an income which provided for the animal. Just because they now have need of food stamps does not mean they should toss their family pet into a shelter for adoption or out on the street.

If a family is on food stamp it doesn’t mean the children are not entitled to a snack every now and then

We all know full well that we would not deny our children a small treat such as a cookie in their lunch besides the sandwich. Pretzels too, are a good accompaniment of a home-packed lunch. Why should the government deny those who would provide their children a little treat alongside the healthy food that right to do so?

So while it sounds logical to regulate what food is purchased with food stamps, one has to realize the full implications that this could bring about. How much power should the government have in dictating our lives? Even if it is “government” money? How will this regulation be enforced? Who will enforce it? Who will pay for enforcement? And so on and so forth.

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