The sign of a good society isn’t how good the very best are doing, it’s how well the very worst are able to live. When we strip food assistance, we’re saying that we don’t care what happens to those who already have the least.

And let’s be honest about how we got here. These cuts didn’t fall from the sky. People voted for this kind of instability. Or they didn’t vote at all. Either way, that silence gave permission for leaders to treat struggling families as political pawns. Some folks said they wanted government to get out of the way, and others think it’s necessary that we go through this in order to “teach people a lesson.” Well, this is what that looks like, we are forced to learn this lesson. It hurts real people. It hurts families. It hurts our neighbors.

I refuse to believe this is the best we can do. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our community, our society, is strongest when we take care of our most vulnerable. When we believe that no one should go hungry, not in a country this rich.

I would much rather my tax dollars go toward helping families put food on the table than helping Elon Musk become a trillionaire. I would rather see a mom breathe easier at the grocery store than another billionaire get a tax break for a third yacht.

SNAP isn’t about laziness. It’s about survival. It’s about dignity. It’s about making sure that even if times get tough, no one in America has to starve.

We should give a damn about each other. That’s what community is supposed to mean. And until we all remember that, we’ll keep having to remind them that compassion is not a weakness. It’s the measure of who we are.