Donald Trump And The Symbionese Liberation Army

It has been a couple of weeks since the Trump Administration floated the idea of handing out boxes of food to SNAP recipients, rather than food stamps or plastic debit cards, so the story has made its way out of the news cycles. Donald Trump thought that a "Blue Apron" style of delivering food to poor children (most food stamps beneficiaries are children) would be a groovy way to re-vamp that aspect of welfare. Humiliating parents and children who are not as fortunate as Trump and Family is, these days, what being a Republican is all about.

Something that is not addressed by this "food delivery" idea is food allergies. All it takes is one mistake; one accidental or deliberate delivery of peanut butter or tuna to someone with a peanut butter or seafood allergy to kill that person. No kidding. Also not addressed are restricted diets: not everyone can safely eat the same stuff. A person with diabetes is often prescribed a restricted diet. A person with celiac disease experiences autoimmune reactions if he eats anything containing wheat products. A generic box of food cannot address this, but a person who knows what foods are medically safe for his own family can. It appears that the Trump administration just wants to put all poverty stricken families into one category, and any recipient of assistance who does not fit the category is simply out of luck.

Another group demanded, in 1974, that Hearst Publications try the same thing. This group was a terrorist group called the Symbionese Liberation Army. Patty Hearst, the daughter of one of the heirs to Hearst Publications, was kidnapped by the group in February of 1974. A demand made by the group, as a condition of Patty's release, was for the Hearst family to distribute $70.00 worth of food, in boxes, to every needy person in California. The approximate equivalent, as of 2018, is about $420.00 per person or family. Hearst went ahead and started distributing food at one location, hoping to get his daughter back. What ensued was chaos, not unlike Donald Trump and his charitable act of throwing paper towels at people in Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria. Such actions facilitate the risks of hurting people, and there is no guarantee that everyone who needs food or paper towels will even benefit. Since we all know that this type of charity did not work well for a group of domestic terrorists, why would the president thing it is a good idea?