This is what you get when you push the false Socialist narrative that government assistance are entitlements.
Food stamp recipient Edward B. Johnston Jr. recently started a petition on the Care2 website calling for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) to include the option to buy food for pets. Not only does Johnston want taxpayers to pay for his food, he wants tax-paying Americans to pay for his pet's food as well.
As of this writing, the petition is currently 774 signatures short of the proposed goal of 90,000 signatures needed to send the petition to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
"Unfortunately, SNAP benefits cannot be used to buy pet food, leaving poor families with pets in a difficult position," Johnston wrote in the petition. "I am one of those Americans. I have only been on SNAP benefits for a few months, but I have been unable to feed my little dog due to government regulations."
Here's a crazy idea -- and I'm just spitballing here -- but if you can't afford to feed yourself, maybe adding the care of a pet to your income isn't the wisest of decisions. That may sound cold, but so is life. Life doesn't wait for you to get your act together in order to feed not only your dog but yourself too.
The petition continued:
Some argue that people should not keep pets if they cannot afford them, but the fact is that an individual or family's financial status can change at any time. Should someone be forced to give up a pet they've had for years just because they hit a financial rough patch? Or should they be able to utilize federal aid to continue feeding their pet.
Some could argue that, but I won't. People like Johnston are the same people who classify their pet as some kind of child of theirs. While that parallel could conceivably be drawn for people that don't have or want children, you could also draw the parallel that if your actual child was hungry wouldn't you do everything in your power to feed that child? Wouldn't you try to get a better job or just have a job in general in order to meet the needs -- not the wants -- of your life.
While I love pets -- dogs, fish, reptiles -- a pet is a want and not a need. It's all well and good for Johnston to cry poor, but if people prioritized their needs above their wants, they might not need government assistance.