food stamps are right for those who aren't lazy and are the poorest among us

"a person with no means of getting food should be able to go grow corn. society stops them, basically at gun point, with property laws. if they are going to do that, they should make up for it by giving them food." I actually don't understand what point you're trying to make, but I feel that it's important me to probably start off with the topic itself: "food stamps are right for those who aren't lazy and are the poorest among us." 1) I want to see my opponent come up with a proper definition of "lazy"...What do you actually mean when you refer to a large number of people- who would be eligible for food stamps- as "not lazy"? Are these people who participate in the workforce, are these people who may desire to participate in the workforce, but can't due to being unable to find a job? 2) How do you define poverty? Who are the poor? Those who fall beneath the federal government's standards for poverty? Those who don't have enough income to feed themselves? Here's what I have to say: I think that the whole problem with the "Pro" side of this argument is that we have someone trying to delineate between the "deserving" and "undeserving" poor, believing that only some of the population should have access to welfare benefits (in this case, food stamps) because only some of the poor are either a) not lazy or b) extremely, desperately impoverished. Means-testing for benefits, including food stamps, is a process that creates a significant bureaucracy based on the assumption that human beings do not unequivocally deserve the right to a decent standard of living. I'd be hard-pressed to find many individuals in society, who, having a financial situation that makes them eligible for food stamps, could be honestly considered "lazy." To live in crushing poverty (with or without formal work) is not easy- and we have to take that into account when discussing any "laziness" that is associated with poverty (if any). We also have to take into account the fact that work is not solely confined to the workplace. Plenty of people engage in meaningful activities such as childrearing, volunteering, taking care of other family members, etc. that are not a part of the formal economy. Also, if we're looking at this from an angle of "people who are poor, did not decide to pursue higher education, therefore they are 'lazy,'" many people who are poor do not have the means or support necessary to pursue self-improvement that would get them out of a derelict situation- i.e. a situation that would no longer require them to depend on food stamps. The structural barriers that exist to limit their self-improvement do not make them lazy. Obviously, more than just the "poorest" among us need to be able to eat. Food stamps are designed to be a supplement for families in need, and not a source of dependence. There are plenty of people who work minimum wage jobs and utilize food stamps in order to help themselves survive. Those people are not the "poorest": they have a steady income from work, but they still don't have the means they need to survive, without utilizing food stamps. Would you consider those people to be "not right" for this kind of service, even though they would not be able to survive otherwise?