Food Stamps and America's Cultural Divide Over Shame

It is a cliché to say America is polarized, but that doesn’t make it any less true. While there is no shortage of examples, the cultural divide over shame may be the most revealing.

Those aiming to take the shame out of accepting government handouts are represented by The New York Times editorial page. 

On Friday, it praised Gov. Cuomo’s decision to prevent New York City from fingerprinting food-stamp recipients with its usual farrago of ideological assertions masquerading as facts and a demand that he do even more to open the entitlement floodgates.

Channeling the philosophy of Mitchell “Come And Get It” Ginsberg, a 1960s welfare commissioner in Fun City, the Times turns shame upside down. It believes there is something wrong with any eligible American who doesn’t grab all he can. It also argues that saying no to Uncle Sam’s handouts is a dereliction of the duty to turn other people’s money into a permanent stimulus.

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