Food Stamp Nation

Her name is Dillie Nerios.
She’s 56 years old.
She lives in the Treasure Coast of Florida.
She’s a people person, with a warm, engaging personality.
She works as a recruiter, cruising trailer parks and retirement communities looking for new prospects.
And her job is to make people dependent on the government


Nerios was the subject of a recent Washington Post article that has caused quite a stir. She works for a local Florida food bank that is associated with a larger U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) program to increase food stamp enrollment. Yes, you read that right … she gets paid to put more people on the public dole. In fact, she even has a quota to meet: 150 new enrollees per month.
People in her line of work must be doing something right. Among the roughly 80 means-tested federal welfare programs, the food stamp program is the second-largest and the fastest growing in the country. Today, more than 47 million Americans now receive the benefit. That means nearly one in six depend on taxpayers to buy one of life's most basic necessities, with food stamp spending more than doubling since President Obama took office.
Yet after seeing this historic increase, the Obama administration continues to use promotional campaigns to further increase enrollment. If you have ever wondered what it looks like when a nation has lost its way, this is it.

How Out of Hand Have Things Become?

The USDA has acknowledged a formal partnership with the Mexican government to boost food stamp enrollment among Mexican nationals. Chew on that for a moment. The United States government has been actively working with a foreign government to increase food stamp participation among non-citizens here at home. In fact, in response to oversight inquiries from Republicans in Congress, the USDA revealed that the current administration has met with Mexican officials approximately 30 times as part of the partnership.

The USDA has also adopted a range of strategies and programs designed to enroll more people in food stamps by overcoming the notion of self-reliance. A 2011 USDA Hunger Champions Award document reveals that local assistance offices have been rewarded for “counteracting” pride when pushing more people to sign up for benefits.
As The Daily Caller recently reported, the Ashe County Department of Social Services in Jefferson, N.C., for example, received a “Gold” award for confronting “mountain pride” and increasing food stamp participation by 10%. That office was rewarded for overcoming the resistance of those “who wished not to rely on others.”

The USDA even provides bonuses — totaling about $50 million per year — to states that meet high enrollment targets. This is progress in Obama’s America. We have now arrived at a place where our government rewards people for convincing others to reject virtue and embrace dependence.

The New American “Dream”

Helping those who have been struck by unforeseeable misfortune is something that few oppose. But that is fundamentally different from making dependency a way of life. When we go from a society that offers help to those who need it, to one in which the government tries to overcomes its citizens’ self-sufficiency, our national character has fundamentally changed.
When you look a bit deeper, it’s clear that something else is at work here. The enthusiastic drive to increase the number of people dependent on government handouts is pure political calculus, not kindness. The more people dependent on government, the more likely they are to vote for politicians who are giving them the handouts.

It’s that simple.

Barack Obama understands this. Dependency pays off in votes, which is why his administration is tirelessly working to increase the size of the dependent base. This is all done in the name of “compassion.” But there’s a much more sinister plot at work.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker recently wrote: “How many of us grew up with the dream of someday being dependent on the government?”

I certainly didn’t. Yet our government is now spending millions of our tax dollars trying to convince people that such soul-crushing enslavement is something to aspire to.

We either turn the tide now or risk living in a country where the takers have more votes than the makers. Where politicians promise to give away ever more spoils from the public kitty in exchange for power.

We’ve all seen this movie before … and we know how it ends. It’s called the Motor City Meltdown, and a version of it opens nationwide sooner than you think.
In Wealth & Prosperity,


Erika Nolan
Executive Publisher, The Sovereign Society