"SNAP is flawed, but it works."

This op-ed by Christopher Bosso in the September 2023 issue of The Baffler is unflinching in its political history of government assistance programs related to food and feeding families in the United States, from the Great Depression to today.

It's also a meditation on the history of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP (informally known as "food stamps").

I know that I am not cut out to be a politician, because conceptualizing these funds and this program (which keep people, especially children, fed while they are in financial crisis) as a bargaining chip in political negotiations tends to turn my stomach. But policies like SNAP do change people's lives, and it's my duty as a voter to be able to understand how this program gets funded, and by whom. (Congress.)

Frankly, it was uplifting to read that this program has ongoing support from both major U.S. political parties. SNAP has survived many waves of political theories of poverty-relief and parties in power. That's no small miracle!

The whole piece is worth a read, but the no-nonsense conclusion is ultimately: ”SNAP?is flawed, but it works.”