There are no guarantees in life. We know that luck and happenstance of birth can make life difficult for some people. We as a species - and particularly we as Americans - expect, however, that everyone deserves the basics: food and shelter. Charities and governmental programs have existed for decades (and in some cases centuries) to ensure that we as a people and a nation don't starve.

Programs such as WIC and Food Stamps and school lunch programs for the poor are literally the least we can do to keep citizens of the one of the richest nations on the planet from starving. Yet to hear the "pull yourselves up by your bootstraps" crowd tell it, these are "freeloaders" and "takers" that deserve scorn. Never mind that the majority of these are people working full time, like employees of Wal-Mart and McDonald's.

It's worse when you see how kids - who really have no responsibility for their financial status - are treated by some "adults". In Utah, 40 kids had their lunches taken away and thrown in the trash because they had no money in their accounts. This happened in front of their school peers. I can guarantee the school lunch manager who ordered this is not a liberal.

In Colorado, the school was stamping the hands of children who did not have money for lunch. A school principal who objected to the practice was fired over it, which shows just how widespread this was.

What adult thinks it's okay to take food away from children? What adult thinks it's okay to humiliate and traumatize kids because their parents are too poor to pay for lunch?? This is sick sick sick...

To hear some small-government anti-tax types tell it, it's because we can't afford it. The latest farm bill from the Republican-led House once again cuts food stamps, yet preserves subsidies for farmers. As our government cuts big holes in an already tattered safety net, corporate tax breaks and subsidies are still sky-high and getting higher. These are highly-profitable industries that are essentially getting government handouts, and the money is coming from us (the taxpayers) in both dollars and lost essentials (like food for hungry kids).

We as a nation need to take a long hard look at ourselves and ask where are priorities are. Just as tax cuts for the rich have transferred wealth from the middle class to the upper 1% over the last 12 years, so too are these government handouts to rich companies. This isn't about refrigerators or TVs or cellphones, this is about a basic human need: food.

The "job creators" aren't creating jobs with their obscene largesse. There's no rationale for continuing this march to serfdom. It's time for this country to once again find its conscience.