We are told via the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), that 47.4 million people in the United States were living in food-insecure households in 2023. While, there exist various programs to address this food insecurity, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Special Supplemental to that, designed for women, infants, and children, we still have millions of Americans who are considered to be, food insecure.
We live in a modern age in which America is considered to be the “breadbasket of the world,” which thereby signifies that the governance of this nation should be able to alleviate a significant percentage of those who are currently food insecure, by providing the food and the logistics for the distribution of that food to the very people of this great nation. Indeed, it could be said, that the programs in place, have done a fairly good job of providing food to those that are most in need of such, but still, at the end of the day, it could do better, for to be food insecure, especially for vulnerable infants and children, should not still be something occurring, because America has an absolute obligation to take care of its own and its most vulnerable, first.
Look, it has to be said, that undoubtedly a meaningful percentage of those that are food insecure, rests at the feet of those people, themselves, for not doing more to provide for their own, by their efforts, but what of it? Indeed, so many of those who are food insecure, are the same that have significant issues with unemployment, lack of opportunity, ill-education, living in “food deserts,” and lack of capital, all of which thereby signify that they don't live in prosperous areas of this nation.
This thus signifies that American governance can look upon people like that, as not only welfare and charity cases that need a helping hand, but also as a people that need a viable foundation that will address the systemic problems and issues that preclude so many of these people, of having lives of merit, value, and decency. That is to say, the food insecurity that so many people suffer from has a lot to do with this nation, not providing a meaningful floor to everyone that is part and parcel of this nation, that thus provides those people with the ways and means to live a decent life, and because of that, America has a persistent underclass that is under-served in virtually every area of importance, such as food, healthcare, education, and community safety.
Therefore, the measure of this nation could be fairly evaluated by how many are food insecure, because those that are food insecure are clearly those that do not have a good toehold upon the wealth and opportunity that America at its best, represents, and therefore there is the seminal need to address those persistent problems in a way and manner that this governance doesn't just take care of these issues from the perspective of doing what it can daily, but must therefore help to create a more inclusive America, that will do all that it can to see that far fewer people are actually left behind, by addressing forthrightly the issues that are systemic in nature, seemingly intractable, that need to be corrected to thereby give as many as possible, hope, food, and opportunity.