Let them eat groceries

If a hungry child falls in the forest and there’s no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

In America, the top 1 percent of households own about one-third of the wealth and the top 10 percent own more than half.

The plutocrats and oligarchs armed with avarice are experiencing another “gilded age” similar to that of the late 1800s and many are seeing significant growth to their personal wealth partly by exploiting millions of less fortunate Americans.

Many government policies are geared to and influenced by the wealthy, who receive enormous tax breaks funded in part by reductions in health care benefits for the impoverished and the working and middle classes and the trimming of food assistance programs, all of it enabled by the prevalent political corruption.

And it’s as easy as stealing royal jewels from the Louvre Museum in broad daylight.

It appears when the rich and powerful are the recipients of the government assistance, it’s not only tolerated but also encouraged by the many gluttonous politicians that wine and dine in the deep crowded pockets of the ruling class.

The price of food continues to rise and the current administration uses “tariffs,” now a la mode as a euphemism for new sales taxes on Americans which have significantly increased the cost of virtually everything.

Is this “taxation without representation”? 

And for some time now, food pantries across the country have seen a steady increase of people seeking help. Further, the government shutdown resulted in 730,000 Americans working without pay, with many others fired, almost 675,000 furloughed. Farmers are suffering, healthcare costs are rising and federal food assistance has diminished, leaving more people entangled in food insecurity.

Meanwhile, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits were about to expire on Nov. 1, potentially putting 42 million more people at risk of hunger and malnutrition.

But on Oct. 31, U.S. District Judge John McConnell, citing “irreparable harm” and “the terror it has caused,” ordered that the benefits continue to be paid Another judge had found that not disbursing the benefits was “unlawful.”

Despite the harm, terror and illegality the administration still appealed the order. The current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Robbins stated, “if you are in a position where you can't feed your family, and you are relying on that $187 dollars a month for an average family in the SNAP program, we have failed you,”

Meanwhile, a 90,000-square-foot ballroom costing $300 million is being constructed in the White House exclusively for the rich and powerful to have yet another playground to indulge in self-serving gatherings that the average American will never experience or benefit from.

Supposedly the ballroom is funded by donations, but is that serendipity or quid pro quo?

Nonetheless, it’s a symbol of the ravenous appetite for wealth and represents the insatiable hunger for power of the current administration and the top 1 percent and will likely be used to increase their wealth even more as they waltz and foxtrot all the way to the bank.

Also, in October a $40 billion bailout package for Argentina was announced. So much for America first.

Further, the day before SNAP benefits were set to expire, the fortunate sons and bougie crowd attended a “Great Gatsby” style Halloween party at Mar-A-Lago, the so-called “Winter White House,” where they enjoyed the unequivocal privilege of political favor while clearly displaying to the world the moral decay of America’s government. This soiree, named “A little party never killed anybody,” included glamorous women in roaring twenties outfits, a burlesque dancer and a burlesque showgirl in a gigantic martini glass and cost taxpayers $3.4 million.

And despite being shrouded by a glittering facade, the decadence of the A-list was not obscured and likely intentionally flaunted.

This disregard and nonchalance of America’s elite and the extravagant and foolish spending by the government for their pleasure and entertainment is similar to that of the French royalty in the 17th and 18th centuries.

During the reign of Louis XIV, the monarchy spent lavishly on the construction and expansion of Versailles, the center of the French government at the time, which cost the same as the White House ballroom. Decades later, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette continued to hold court and socialize at Versailles surrounded by its opulence and riches.

But the king and queen lost their heads and lived extravagant lives while French citizens starved to death during the famine of 1789. The regal failure of the monarchy toward the plight of the poor and working families who struggled endlessly to survive just one more day was appalling. 

The symphony of roaring empty stomachs could be heard by everyone except the royalty and elite who were tone-deaf to the cries of hunger chanted by children whose mothers, knowing the inevitable, could only whisper words of love and offer the spiritual nurturing breast of divine providence.

And although there is no historical evidence that Marie Antoinette said “let them eat cake” when told the people had no bread to eat, those words were attributed to her and combined with the squandering and nonfeasance of the monarchy fueled resentment.

Today, America’s quasi monarchy also coexists with citizens living in unthinkable poverty and similarly mimics the opulence, ignorance and insensitivity displayed by the French monarchy 236 years ago.

And as the federal government ducks its legal obligation to fund the SNAP program and its moral imperative to help millions struggling with food insecurity, “robbing hoods” disguised as altruistic politicians and America loving patriots take from the poor and middle class and give to the rich.