THE GREAT FOOD STAMP BOONDOGGLE

Why Gingrich Is Right About Food-Stamp Program: Ramesh Ponnuru

Newt Gingrich, as is his wont, has started a controversy. President Barack Obama, Gingrich has said, is the “best food-stamp president in American history.” And: “He will always prefer a food-stamp economy to a paycheck economy.”

In one town-hall appearance in New Hampshire, Gingrich said he would be happy to address a convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to explain that “the African American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps.”

The resulting furor has highlighted what Gingrich got wrong. But Gingrich isn’t wrong to be troubled by the extraordinary growth of the federal food-stamp program.

Liberals have taken Gingrich to be promoting and exploiting racist sentiments. In their view, he is insinuating to white voters that a black president is handing out money to idle blacks because he is hostile to working for a living.

I may be naive, or just biased because I’m a conservative, but I’m inclined to take a more charitable view. Gingrich had been making the paychecks-versus-food-stamps contrast for months without referring to race. He may have been — clumsily — making the point that policies that weaken the private sector and encourage dependency on government harm blacks more than other Americans. That view may or may not be sound, but it isn’t based on racial animosity.

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