“Hunger in America? Why?” Summing Up Food Bank Outreach Campaign

On October 27th, the Center for Political Innovation kicked off its outreach campaign directed at food banks. The federal government shutdown threatened to kick 42 million Americans off their food assistance. Food banks across the country were already overwhelmed. CPI viewed this as an utter failure of the system of globalism/imperialism and a clear example of why a government of action that fights for working families is urgently needed.

CPI members went to food banks around the country to spread the word with a special leaflet and palm card created to agitate about the crisis and explain the Innovationist perspective.

A CPI organizer in Chicago wrote:
“It was nerve-wracking at first going out to the food bank, but I realized how necessary this work is. As Innovationists, it’s our responsibility to help the American people understand why we’re living in such an unstable economy and how it affects their daily lives. With CPI, we’re one of the few organizations actually reaching out to the masses of the working class and dealing directly with the crisis of our time.”

An organizer in Minneapolis described visiting a church she had a personal connection with and speaking with one of the ministers who ran a food bank program:
“He breathed a heavy sigh and said that he sees a lot of need every day. He prays and gives the burden to God. I brought up the point that our government is spending money on wars instead of developing the country. I explained that I am part of an organization that is building an anti-monopoly coalition. We believe that the problem is rooted in an irrational economic system. He agreed that capitalism is a problem. But we didn’t have time to get into detail. I left them some flyers, and we agreed to keep in touch.”

Members of the Los Angeles Innovation Circle described visiting farmers’ markets with the special anti-imperialist message:
“In South Pasadena, area farmers and other food vendors were taking tokens given from EBT cards, and in Hollywood, where fake money was given in exchange, we saw long lines. With the exception of only one person, everyone agreed that no one should have to be hungry without benefiting from SNAP.”

CPI organizers in the Boston area wrote:
“The holidays are coming up, and millions of Americans suddenly had their SNAP benefits revoked and were wondering how they were going to eat. I got the sense that food banks were unusually overwhelmed. In northern Mass., we noticed that many of them had shifted to unusual hours, even closing early on weekends. We distributed leaflets in the neighborhood surrounding a food bank that had closed early for the weekend, and people seemed receptive.”

Here is the text of the leaflet CPI distributed across the country:

SNAP benefits have been cut off from 42 million people because the U.S. federal government is shut down. Why? What sense does it make for the richest country in the world to leave so many people behind? Why are food banks overwhelmed in the land of the free and the home of the brave?

The reason is that our leaders are loyal not to the United States, but to a global system. At the same time that millions of Americans are left out to dry, the government is spending millions on a military build-up off the coast of Venezuela, preparing for a war that could potentially cost billions. Money continues to pile into Ukraine so it can wage war against Russia.

Our government is run by bankers. Big monopolistic corporations based on Wall Street and in London are determined to stay at the top of the world. They have concluded that the only way to keep their place is by grinding humanity into poverty. They destroyed Iraq, Libya, and other countries that were once independent. They are trying to beat down Russia and China. They are openly talking about “overpopulation” and the need to “degrow” the world. They are contemplating various blueprints for a high-tech dark age, where we “own nothing and be happy about it.”

They want us to blame Trump, or blame the Democrats, or blame the immigrants — but the reality is that the problems are rooted in the system. The only answer is popular power and rational leadership that has an optimistic worldview.

What we need is a government of action to fight for working families. We need a government that breaks the power of the big monopolies and invests in communities. Human creativity and labor are the sources of all wealth, and we need leadership that invests in the interests of the entire country, not the short-term profits of an elite.

We must say no to their agenda of a low-wage police state and being pushed closer to a new world war. It’s time to organize and fight for real solutions — not red team vs. blue team, woke vs. MAGA — but real forward thinking and innovation. Learn about the Center for Political Innovation and our mission to build a movement against globalism and imperialism. A new America is possible if we can organize and demand it. Time to get involved!