The point of SNAP should be to get people off SNAP
It is not good to have people dependent on the federal government for basic necessities.
The battle earlier this month and late last month over whether the government shutdown would affect SNAP benefits (food stamps) ought to make us re-think the entire focus of the program and move toward a more compassionate system that treats people with dignity.
The biggest problem with SNAP at the federal level is that it exists at all. The federal government has no constitutional authority to run a food stamp (SNAP) program at all, and the Tenth Amendment reserves authority not explicitly granted to the federal government to the sovereign states. Send all of that back to the states. But having 50 programs, all administered closer to the voters who pay for it, would be preferable to a federal program. The federal government has absorbed far too much authority that rightfully belongs to the sovereign states. This should be their domain. Some states would have EBT, and some would not. Some states would run their programs better than others.
SNAP literally stands for “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” so theoretically SNAP benefits should supplement someone’s food purchases, rather than replace them. It is not good to have people dependent on the federal government for basic necessities. Since the point of the program is to provide assistance with nutrition, it makes sense to restrict the purchase of junk food as well. The program has expanded beyond its intended purpose and should be reigned in.
Having people be continually dependent on government food assistance strips people of their dignity and ability to care for themselves. The purpose of SNAP should be to get people off of SNAP. This means we need work requirements and real efforts to make SNAP a temporary program that helps people when they need help, so they can provide for themselves. Government assistance should not be a means to trap people in a cycle of generational poverty where they feel entitled to other people’s money. Reforming SNAP would be a welcome step toward lifting people out of a dependency culture.