Opinion

Food stamp of approval

Once upon a time, accepting food stamps — even as a temporary measure in tough times — was a source of shame. In today’s New York, it’s just another way for limousine liberals to shop for votes.

And therein lies the real shame.

This month, mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner answered the so-called “Food Stamp Challenge” issued by the Food Bank of New York City. This is the way publicity-seeking politicians try to show solidarity with food-stamp recipients by surviving on $4.50 worth of food a day for a full week.

And so, Weiner — who lives in a comfy $3 million Park Avenue apartment — went out shopping with a happy media pack in tow.

“I’m gonna get probably a loaf of bread, some peanut butter, rice, lentils,” he announced for the cameras.

How pathetic. Yes, there are now 1.8 million New Yorkers on food stamps, a figure that has doubled since 2002. But these people don’t need wealthy Democratic politicians (another mayoral wannabe, John Liu, also took on the Food Stamp Challenge) to show they are “down” with the poor.

What they need is a way to feed themselves and their families in dignity, without depending on food stamps. For most of them, their ability to provide for themselves and their children depends on having a healthy, growing economy that is creating jobs and opportunity.

Remember that — jobs? Back in 1996, as then-President Bill Clinton was about to sign welfare reform into law, he put it this way: “We all have to recognize that the best anti-poverty program is still a job.”

Too many of New York’s candidates for political office have forgotten that message. So instead of visiting shops, factories and start-ups to learn what entrepreneurs need from this city to thrive, expand and create more jobs, the Weiners and Lius pimp the plight of the poor for the cameras — and try to guilt-trip taxpayers into funding more programs that will only keep the poor from ever providing for themselves.

To paraphrase the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, programs like the Food Stamp Challenge only serve to define dependency down. Surely in this great city, we can do better for men and women truly struggling to feed their families.