Rush Limbaugh Denies There is Hunger in America

--Rush Limbaugh on his 11.18.08 radio show, speaking about the issue of food security in America

I sat in the car dumbfounded, listening to Rush Limbaugh criticize a report from the Department of Agriculture stating that thousands of children in American go hungry each day. The report said that "food security" is a major issue for hundreds of thousands of people each day. According to the Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service the term food security means "access by all people at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life." Rush Limbaugh refuses to believe anyone in American can't get enough food.

Limbaugh expressed his viewpoints on food security on his November 18, 2008 radio show, where he had this to say about the idea that some kids in America go hungry: "Kids always say they're hungry... even kids who are consistently well fed will say they're hungry if you ask them. Ask a kid if he wants a candy bar and he or she will always tell you they're hungry. They're not so hungry when you ask them if they want an apple or something healthy to eat."

Rush Limbaugh proceeded to call kids liars for saying they're hungry. He also said that there's no way kids can be hungry in a nation where there are more people than ever earning $100,000 per year. Rush also says that the problem of rampant childhood obesity is a sign that food security is not a problem in America. But let's look at the real reason Rush Limbaugh was talking about food security.

Limbaugh says the only reason the Department of Agriculture report on food security has recently been published in the media is to support a proposed program from President Elect Barack Obama to help feed hungry kids in America. Limbaugh contends the timing of the story is a clear sign of collusion on the part of the "liberal mainstream media" to help President-Elect Obama get what he wants.

Rush Limbaugh seemed happy to use the issue of hungry kids as pawns to make political points with his listeners. He apparently was too lazy to dig into facts drawn from the Department of Agriculture Report.

Statistics on food security in America are sobering. The United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service focuses in the economics of food, farming, natural resources and Rural America. Please keep in mind that the report was generated and issued under the watch of a Republican organization, not driven by Democrats into the news. Here is what recent reports on food security have to say: "In 2007, 89 percent of U.S. households were food secure throughout the entire year. The remaining households (11.1 percent) were food insecure at least some time during that year, essentially unchanged from 10.9 percent in 2006."

That means 1 out of 10 families or more than 3 million people are not sure day-to-day where their next meal is coming from.

It would be tremendous news if Mr. Limbaugh were right, that hunger no longer exists as a problem in America. But he is painfully wrong. Fortunately, there is a tremendous effort by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to provide food to those in need. If Barack Obama does push for legislation to help feed in the hungry in America, he will likely find effective channels already exist. But more help is needed, especially as the economy suffers through its worst recession in three decades.

To combat hunger, organizations like America's Second Harvest are devoted to supplying food to hungry people in America. Recognizing that America still has only about a 22% level of awareness of hunger as a problem, America's Second Harvest will be changing its name to Feeding America with a new logo and campaign in the coming year. The goal is to increase public knowledge about hunger by using a name that is more direct in its meaning and context. The effort to gather and distribute food is one of the more efficient and effective non-profit enterprises in America, with regional food centers often working with local pantries to reach needy people in their own communities.

All across America local food banks gather food through public donations and channeled contributions from leading grocers and retailers. They also raise money through events and fund raisers. Thousands of volunteers mobilize to move food from regional centers like the Northern Illinois Food Bank in St. Charles, Illinois to distribution points throughout the Chicago suburbs and northern tier of the state. The efforts of organizations like these assuage pockets of need but are far from curing the problem of hunger in America. "You'll be hard pressed to find a community in the United States that is immune from hunger," says Dennis Smith, Executive Director of the Northern Illnois Food Bank. "Hunger is a silent epidemic that affects too many people right here in our backyard.

Food security is at once a global, national and local problem. Food banks across America need donations to feed children and families. Telling Americans that food security is not a problem (as Rush Limbaugh so cynically contends) is not the way to help people in need. Negative messaging about the real hunger problem can discourage people from contributing to worthwhile organizations at a time when those services are needed most.

Rush Limbaugh has never been one to listen to reason on issues of public welfare. Like a modern day Scrooge, he contents himself screaming from his spot on the radio dial, "Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?" It seems sad that millions of people hang on his every word when he so regularly partakes in politically motivated exaggerations and untruths like those about the issue of food security in America.

Rush Limbaugh consistently twists truth in ways that can easily be refuted through the simplest bit of research. All it took to find real statistics on hunger in America was a simple Google search on the topic. Trouble is, Rush Limbaugh's listeners seldom seem to question his opinions or check his supposed facts. Instead they repeat his lies and America continues to suffer for it. The Limbaugh ideology supports a Darwinistic brand of social irresponsibility disguised as smart banter. In that enterprise he is joined by fellow cynics Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and other supposed "un-spin" doctors who have never met a fact they could not manipulate to their own, selfish ideology.

Here's the real kicker. Just before Limbaugh delivered his partisan rant about food security, he accidentally blurted out the word "Jesus!" on air. He quickly muttered an apology to his listeners for using the Lord's name in vain, but then proceeded to engage in his gross misrepresentation of fact about food security and hunger in America. It is truly ironic that Rush Limbaugh should utter the Lord's name in vain before lying about children and families in need.