Food Stamps- A Moral Diorama

I went to college which means I don't qualify for any jobs, but I do qualify for food stamps. Which is nice. But here's the problem. My fancy pancy college education may not have prepared me to make money, but it did prepare me to think critically about the morality of accepting said food stamps.


This has never been a problem in the past. I hate government programs, especially entitlements like socialized medicine, medicare, social security, unemployment, etc. So I have always said that, in the event that I qualified for some of those programs, I would not accept the benefits.


But here's the thing. I just found out that you can use food stamps to get Papa Murphy's Pizza. Food stamps are easy to reject when all you can get is government cheese, but Papa Murphy's pizza? Thats rich person food. I guess there is a loop hole because the pizza isn't cooked when you get it so you can use your food stamps. Sweet.


But I could actually afford to pay for the pizza, and in fact, I shouldn't be eating Papa Murphy's pizza anyway, not without a job. But the Government has offered to take money from someone else who is willing to work, and use it to buy me a Papa Murphy's Pizza.


There are two ways I could look at this. I could say, there is something fundamentally wrong with forcing someone else to buy me a Papa Murphy's Pizza, simply because I want to write and go to the gym instead of working, so I'm not going to participate.


On the other hand, I could say if some sap is going to work his ass off so I can have that Papa Murphy's Pizza he's an idiot and I should take everything I can get until somebody puts a stop to it.


And there you have it. This is the problem with entitlements. You take from those who are willing to work and give Papa Murphy's Pizza to those who are willing to cook their own pizza but not much else.


Here is where I address your objections for the sake of argument. You might say, you could work and went to college, but there are lots of people who are out of work and who would go hungry without food stamps.


Correct you are, but that doesn't answer the question of why someone like me qualifies for the same benefits. Don't create a system that lets lazy people like me get a free pizza at the expense of someone else! It is morally wrong to take from one person even if you are giving to a hungry person. Instead, create a system that encourages people to give to a hungry person, voluntarily.


When you take the money from the sucker who is willing to work, you restrict his ability to create jobs for the people on food stamps. You also restrict his ability to donate excess capital to help his community, the community he relies on for his job and income. Instead of allowing him to help his neighbors, we let him off the hook. Food stamps will help his neighbors, so instead of caring about his community, he gets pissed because he had to buy everyone pizza.


Am I going to get my food stamps? No. That would ruin my egotistical self centered logically consistent view of myself. But I might have a piece of my friends; it turns out Papa Murphy's is doing great business. Maybe I could work there.