I have been thinking a lot about the food stamp program lately. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that food stamps are a program that the federal government can, and should eliminate.

Now of course, a lot of people will be asking "what about the starving in the US?" Their question, while sincere, is ignorant of the facts. The simple truth is, there is no reason for ANYONE in this country to starve. None.

Why do I make such a sweeping statement? Simple. Because private charities in the United States have done their job. There are food banks in all but the smallest communities, and while there are people to consider within those communities, they generally have a means of travelling to larger communities, or else they wouldn't live in those smaller communities in the first place. Communities too small to house a food bank are also unlikely to have a welfare office anyway.

The truth is, in my experience and that of many others I know, most food stamp money isn't used for food, but is "fenced" for drugs, cigarettes and alcohol despite well intentioned efforts to end such abuse. The same families that receive $500-600 a month in food stamps can also be seen at every local food bank  getting their weekly or monthly allotment of handouts. The food stamp money is a negotiable commodity for them, plain and simple.

What liberal in this country fail to recognize is the simple truth that private charities have been shown to work. Second Harvest and other similar minded organizations have done an unparallelled job of reclaiming our waste and ensuring that surplus food finds its way into the mouths of those who so desperately needed instead of the old system of being trucked to the local landfill.

Sure, I think there should be some sort of voucher availability for certain items that are hard to obtain at a food bank, such as milk, eggs, flour, oil, and similar products. But even a voucher system should be privately administered so that it can be customized to the individual needs of the families. There's simply no excuse for the waste that is the USDA food stamp program.