Once a week, I volunteer at our local Survival Center, which is our version of a food bank. The last few weeks have been beyond hectic, as people are panicking over the SNAP benefits. If you’ve been under a rock and haven’t heard, the current so-called administration is in complete shutdown, and even though there ARE funds allocated to continue SNAP, the rethuglicans (led by the orange shitgibbon) simply don’t care to use them. After all, SNAP is for cheaters, right? Real Amuricans have jobs and don’t need it.

But the problem is that the people who really need SNAP overwhelmingly have jobs. Those jobs simply don’t pay enough to afford both rent and food. Go figure. Minimum wage doesn’t cover it? How dare.

Our local paper, Hampshire County Gazette, did a story on the local food banks the other day. They interviewed some of our clients and our shoppers, highlighting how tough it is for us to keep up. We’ve had clients who’ve been inactive for ten years come back to shop at the Survival Center, and it’s all because of the current administration. Here in deep blue Massachusetts, it’s not as bad because we have safety nets. I shudder to think what it’s like in deep red states.

I have a good friend in Pennsylvania who’s living off of Social Security. Once SNAP goes, there goes her food for the month. There are damn few safety nets where she lives, which is below the poverty line. What’s she going to do, starve?

Well, yes. If the rethuglicans have their way, that’s indeed what she’d do. It’s all very Dickensian: “If they’re going to die, they might as well do it, and decrease the surplus population!” They don’t care that those who will die the most were their supporters, because, well, as far as I can tell, they have no empathy at all. After all, a baby’s life is precious up until the point it’s born, then it’s on its own. Right? Right?

So what’s the answer? It’s both simple and complicated. We need to get rid of the rethuglicans and install people who know how to fix the system. But who will that be? More rich, white, elderly men? And even if we got rid of the orange shitgibbon tomorrow, it’s going to take years to repair the damage he’s done, not just to the White House but to everything. He’s done more damage to our republic in ten months than Ronald Reagan did in eight years. Get him out of there, please.

And democrats, please wake up. Stop playing by the rules, because your counterparts never have. Look to Zohran Mamdani for inspiration, because he’s what we need right now. Look to AOC, who’s enormously popular. Stop looking for more old, white men who’ll just keep the status quo.

And feed us, please.