We’ve had presidents who were out of touch before, but not like this. Ours today doesn’t just miss the mood of the country, he seems to have lost his grip on reality altogether. When families are counting dollars at the grocery store, this administration is counting chandeliers. When food assistance is being cut, it’s planning parties.
It isn’t just bad optics. It’s a moral failure. The presidency isn’t about appearances; it’s about empathy. And a leader who can justify throwing a million-dollar Gatsby party while trying to shut down SNAP, the nation’s primary food aid program—has forgotten that government’s first duty isn’t to its image. It’s to its people.
I can understand the conservative point of view here. I’m conservative by heart and by history. I believe in responsibility, not dependency. I’ve seen the waste, the abuse, the fraud that creeps into welfare systems. My first wife was a social worker for Los Angeles County back in the 1970s. She came home with stories that would make any taxpayer’s blood boil. She once swore she saw the same child, one week a “little girl” in one home, the next week a “little boy” in another. There was real manipulation in that system, and real frustration for those who tried to do honest work within it.
So yes, I understand the anger. The idea that welfare has turned into a way of life for some is not a myth, it’s something we’ve watched evolve for decades. But that anger can’t become an excuse for cruelty, or for abandoning common sense. You don’t fix fraud by destroying the safety net. You fix fraud by fixing the system.
We’ve lost sight of that. The administration talks about “tough choices,” but there’s nothing tough about punishing the powerless. There’s nothing brave about ignoring the courts when they order full funding for food assistance. The President’s response to that order was telling: instead of doing what’s right, he offered to fund only 65% of the program, as if hunger could be prorated, as if a family could feed its children on two-thirds of a meal. When the federal courts pushed back “Do it, and do it now” he waffled again.
Meanwhile, the country he’s sworn to serve is fracturing between luxury and loss. On one side, glittering events, self-praise, and photo-ops. On the other, families deciding which bill not to pay this month. That’s not leadership. That’s detachment.
Real conservatism was never about indifference. It was about discipline, fairness, and stewardship. It meant saying no to waste—but also yes to humanity. It meant balancing the books without breaking the people. Somewhere along the way, we traded those values for slogans. We replaced moral backbone with sound bites and called it strength.
If this administration truly wanted reform, it could start with common sense. Don’t cut families off cold turkey; help them transition. Don’t reward irresponsibility, but don’t punish the innocent either. Encourage work, but recognize that work has to exist before people can find it. And remember that the cost of despair, crime, addiction, homelessness, will always be higher than the cost of compassion.
The debate over SNAP and social aid isn’t just about money. It’s about what kind of country we want to be. Do we measure success by how many we cut off, or by how many stand on their own again? Do we lead by example, or by decree? Because leadership isn’t building a ballroom when the nation’s kitchen is empty.
The truth is, we can have accountability without arrogance. We can have efficiency without cruelty. We can believe in self-reliance and still feed the hungry. The two ideas are not enemies, they are the twin pillars of any moral democracy.
So yes, I’m conservative. I believe in personal responsibility, in hard work, in fiscal restraint. But I also believe in decency. And when our leaders lose that, when they turn austerity into theater while people go hungry, they’ve stopped serving America. They’re serving themselves.
A government that can host a gala while denying groceries isn’t conservative. It’s decadent. And the longer we let it pretend otherwise, the harder it will be to remember what the word “conservative” even meant in the first place.
America doesn’t need another lecture from a ballroom. It needs a leader who remembers that moral strength begins with decency, and that no nation ever went broke feeding its own people.
Ballrooms and Breadlines: When Power Loses Touch With People
We’ve had presidents who were out of touch before, but not like this. Ours today doesn’t just miss the mood of the country, he seems to have lost his grip on reality altogether. When families are counting dollars at the grocery store, this administration is counting chandeliers. When food assistance is being cut, it’s planning parties.
It isn’t just bad optics. It’s a moral failure. The presidency isn’t about appearances; it’s about empathy. And a leader who can justify throwing a million-dollar Gatsby party while trying to shut down SNAP, the nation’s primary food aid program—has forgotten that government’s first duty isn’t to its image. It’s to its people.
I can understand the conservative point of view here. I’m conservative by heart and by history. I believe in responsibility, not dependency. I’ve seen the waste, the abuse, the fraud that creeps into welfare systems. My first wife was a social worker for Los Angeles County back in the 1970s. She came home with stories that would make any taxpayer’s blood boil. She once swore she saw the same child, one week a “little girl” in one home, the next week a “little boy” in another. There was real manipulation in that system, and real frustration for those who tried to do honest work within it.
So yes, I understand the anger. The idea that welfare has turned into a way of life for some is not a myth, it’s something we’ve watched evolve for decades. But that anger can’t become an excuse for cruelty, or for abandoning common sense. You don’t fix fraud by destroying the safety net. You fix fraud by fixing the system.
We’ve lost sight of that. The administration talks about “tough choices,” but there’s nothing tough about punishing the powerless. There’s nothing brave about ignoring the courts when they order full funding for food assistance. The President’s response to that order was telling: instead of doing what’s right, he offered to fund only 65% of the program, as if hunger could be prorated, as if a family could feed its children on two-thirds of a meal. When the federal courts pushed back “Do it, and do it now” he waffled again.
Meanwhile, the country he’s sworn to serve is fracturing between luxury and loss. On one side, glittering events, self-praise, and photo-ops. On the other, families deciding which bill not to pay this month. That’s not leadership. That’s detachment.
Real conservatism was never about indifference. It was about discipline, fairness, and stewardship. It meant saying no to waste—but also yes to humanity. It meant balancing the books without breaking the people. Somewhere along the way, we traded those values for slogans. We replaced moral backbone with sound bites and called it strength.
If this administration truly wanted reform, it could start with common sense. Don’t cut families off cold turkey; help them transition. Don’t reward irresponsibility, but don’t punish the innocent either. Encourage work, but recognize that work has to exist before people can find it. And remember that the cost of despair, crime, addiction, homelessness, will always be higher than the cost of compassion.
The debate over SNAP and social aid isn’t just about money. It’s about what kind of country we want to be. Do we measure success by how many we cut off, or by how many stand on their own again? Do we lead by example, or by decree? Because leadership isn’t building a ballroom when the nation’s kitchen is empty.
The truth is, we can have accountability without arrogance. We can have efficiency without cruelty. We can believe in self-reliance and still feed the hungry. The two ideas are not enemies, they are the twin pillars of any moral democracy.
So yes, I’m conservative. I believe in personal responsibility, in hard work, in fiscal restraint. But I also believe in decency. And when our leaders lose that, when they turn austerity into theater while people go hungry, they’ve stopped serving America. They’re serving themselves.
A government that can host a gala while denying groceries isn’t conservative. It’s decadent. And the longer we let it pretend otherwise, the harder it will be to remember what the word “conservative” even meant in the first place.
America doesn’t need another lecture from a ballroom. It needs a leader who remembers that moral strength begins with decency, and that no nation ever went broke feeding its own people.
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