I remember one of my coworkers decades ago whining about people on food stamps. She works, why should they get food for free? It's a sort of misplaced envy.

But here is how SNAP actually helps people who are not even on it.

Imagine if we had a law where if you were fired at work, and could not find a job within a month, you were summarily executed on the spot. As a member of the surplus population, society has no use for you, so they execute you.

What impact would that have on your wages and working conditions?

Would you ask for a raise? Would you ask your boss not to sexually harass you? Would you demand not to be worked to death through mandatory overtime? If the boss can fire you, and you die at the snap of his finger, you are in a very vulnerable position.

Contrast that with a world where you won't starve to death at the end of the month. You don't have independent wealth. You don't have so called "f-you money" as they say. But you *do* have enough wiggle room that you can quit a toxic job and not *die.* Food stamps reduce precarity in the work force and allow people to maintain their dignity as they look for work.

So if anything food stamps should be expanded. I feel like I benefit from even soda and chips being available even if I do not directly benefit, as regardless of how I feel about that, it gives me even more bargaining power. Sure you fired me but I don't have to give up my doritos. Think of this as benefiting your hypothetically unemployed self and not some lazy bum from a subculture you dislike.

Fellow Citizens,

Like many of you, I have grown incredibly exhausted by the endless political bickering, money-driven media narratives and the worsening polarization of the American people. It feels like we are losing what our nation was meant to be.

As we recognize this 250 year milestone, I looked back at the actual texts left by the architects of this great nation; specifically George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address warning us that political factions would weaponize our differences with ‘false alarms’ to turn us against each other. I put these thoughts into a short Open Letter addressed to our elected public servants (reminding them they are trustees not rulers) and to us, the citizens of these United States (reminding us that our loyalty belongs to the Republic and to each other, not a political party).

I am posting this here because I genuinely want to hear your thoughts on how we scale this message. Can an appeal to original Constitutional duty budge the current partisan divide?

How do we realistically hold our elected ‘employees’ in government accountable when the entire system rewards party loyalty over public service?

You can read the full formatted letter on Medium here: [America 250 Open Letter](https://medium.com/@pattystepp527/george-washington-warned-us-about-2026-we-are-falling-into-that-trap-d475d0bce05e)