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A War Cry for the Hungry and the Honest
We are watching billionaires tear this country apart, one donation, one loophole, one manipulative soundbite at a time.
Theyâre buying influence like groceries while families like mine are either clipping coupons or calculating how to stretch whatâs left in the pantry so our kids donât go hungry. And somehow, weâre still expected to smile, stay grateful, and thank them for the scraps.
Right now, the government is at a standstill. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits are being slashed, delayed, or paused altogether while Donald Trump points the finger at Democrats for ârefusing to sign the bill.â But the truth? That very bill is laced with cuts designed to gut the program later (Michigan Advance, 2025a).
If Democrats did sign it, sureâit might buy families some time. But theyâd be signing their own execution later. Because when SNAP inevitably collapses, the same people who built in those cuts would blame Democrats for âdestroyingâ it. Either way, they get to look righteous while families like mine pay the price.
This isnât about team colorsâitâs about priorities. When one party repeatedly tries to cut food aid, thatâs not politicsâitâs policy failure.
So noârefusing to sign isnât cruelty. Itâs strength. Itâs choosing to protect the future instead of trading it for convenience.
âJust Go to the Food Bankâ
Hereâs what people donât get: Iâm already planning for impact. Iâve stocked up on non-perishables, stretching meals, doing the mental math a hundred different ways. But I canât just stand by while the government turns feeding my kids into a partisan debate.
And every time I take to social media to speak up about it, someone inevitably chimes in with, âJust go to a food bank.â
As if thatâs a guarantee. As if millions of families across Michigan arenât hearing the same advice at the same time. There are about 1.47 million people on SNAP in this stateâthatâs roughly 700,000 families (Michigan Advance, 2025b).
You take away benefits right before Thanksgiving, and where do you think all those families are going to go? The food banks. All at once. Hoping to salvage a holiday.
The problem is, the food banks are already overwhelmed. Demand has skyrocketed over the past yearânot because people suddenly got lazier, but because the math stopped working. Grocery prices are up nearly 3 percent year-over-year (U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service [USDA ERS], 2025). Inflation hasnât eased where it matters most: milk, bread, produce, the basics. And with federal food shipments down nearly 3 million pounds in Michigan alone (Michigan Advance, 2025c), shelves are thinning faster than donations can replace them.
Add slower job growth and rising costs of living, and youâve got what economists call a âperfect storm for food insecurityâ (Rice University, 2025).
This isnât speculationâthese numbers come straight from state reports and nonpartisan data. And thatâs whatâs terrifying. Because once the shelves are cleared and the donations slow, then what? We get speeches about âpersonal responsibilityâ from people whoâve never had to ration dinner (Associated Press, 2025).
Families on SNAP are working. Theyâre nurses, clerks, caregivers, delivery driversâthe same people keeping the country running while struggling to feed their own.
The Patriotism Pay-to-Play
This country loves to talk about freedom. But somewhere along the way, freedom stopped including the freedom to survive.
Billionaire Timothy Mellonâyes, heir to the Mellon banking fortuneârecently donated $130 million to cover military pay during the shutdown (CBS News, 2025; Associated Press, 2025). At first glance, it sounds noble. But when you look closer, it raises serious ethical and national-security concerns.
The donation was made anonymously through the Department of Defenseâs âgeneral gift acceptance authority,â which allows the Pentagon to accept private contributions in emergencies. While legal, the lack of transparency has drawn criticism from ethics experts and watchdogs who warn it sets a dangerous precedent (Politico, 2025). Without clear disclosure of a donorâs identity or affiliations, the door opensâhowever slightlyâto the possibility of foreign or politically motivated money influencing core government functions (The Guardian, 2025).
No single person should have that much control over public servicesâgood intentions donât erase bad systems.
In other words, when billionaires can swoop in to fund the military while food programs starve, that isnât patriotismâitâs power theater. Itâs the illusion of heroism masking a system thatâs already bought and paid for.
Thatâs not democracy. Itâs a monarchy in a trucker hat.
No Excuses
We donât need kings.
We need leaders who remember what humanity looks like.
Anger is what empathy looks like when itâs backed into a corner.
No party is blamelessâbut thereâs a difference between imperfect governance and intentional harm.
This is the moment where we decide whether to wake up or look away. We canât sit this one outânot again.
Vote like the world your kids inherit depends on it, because it does.
Vote like compassion is a policy, not a charity.
Vote like âMake America Great Againâ actually means making her fair again.
And this time, weâre not asking nicely.
No Kings
If you havenât listened to âNo Kingsâ by Earth to Eve, do it now. Itâs not just a songâitâs a manifesto. A rallying cry wrapped in melody: no kings, no excuses, no untouchables. Itâs the fury of every parent, every worker, every person realizing the American Dream arrived with an invoice they were never meant to afford.
And maybe thatâs where we start againâright there, in the sound of defiance.
References
Associated Press. (2025, November 1). SNAP benefits cut off during shutdown, driving long lines at food pantries. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/e327c306292043755d9d700731039e83
CBS News. (2025, October 28). Reclusive megadonor Timothy Mellon offered to help pay U.S. troops during the shutdown. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/timothy-mellon-donor-pay-us-troops-government-shutdown
Michigan Advance. (2025a, October 24). With SNAP benefits paused, Michigan recipients, advocates and lawmakers determine how to respond. https://michiganadvance.com/2025/10/24/with-snap-benefits-paused-michigan-recipients-advocates-and-lawmakers-determine-how-to-respond
Michigan Advance. (2025b, October 30). Michigan Senate advances stopgap funding for SNAP as federal funding cliff nears. https://michiganadvance.com/2025/10/30/michigan-senate-advances-stopgap-funding-for-snap-as-federal-funding-cliff-nears
Michigan Advance. (2025c, October 20). After nearly 3 million pounds of food aid cancelled, impacts across Michigan vary. https://michiganadvance.com/2025/10/20/after-nearly-3-million-pounds-of-food-aid-cancelled-impacts-across-michigan-vary
Michigan Public. (2025, October 27). Food banks across Michigan hit by federal funding and SNAP cuts during government shutdown. https://www.michiganpublic.org/politics-government/2025-10-27/food-banks-across-michigan-hit-by-federal-funding-and-snap-cuts-during-government-shutdown
Politico. (2025, October 29). Ethics experts raise alarm over anonymous $130 million donation to fund military pay. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/29/anonymous-military-pay-donation-ethics-00124356
Rice University. (2025, October 25). Government shutdown and inflation create a âperfect stormâ for food insecurity. https://news.rice.edu/news/2025/government-shutdown-and-inflation-create-perfect-storm-food-insecurity
The Guardian. (2025, October 31). US megadonorâs $130 million military gift sparks transparency and foreign influence concerns. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/31/timothy-mellon-donation-foreign-influence-concerns
U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS). (2025, August). Food price outlook: Summary findings. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-price-outlook/summary-findings
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