Right Winger Argues Against Food as a Basic Human Right

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:13 pm

Read: Kristi Noem Is Banned From 20% of South Dakota.

On MSNBC this afternoon, Firedoglake’s Jane Hamsher, and Townhall’s Jillian Bandes were engaged in the standard lefty/righty blogger cable news debate on healthcare, when the discussion turned to healthcare as a basic human right like food is Bandes asked, “Should food be a basic human right?” Well yes it should be, and is a basic human right.

Here is the video courtesy of Think Progress:

Hamsher argued that healthcare should be a basic human right, “The people in this country who have to go and face bureaucrats who will not pay their bills and have to face financial ruin in order to get themselves treated is criminal. Basic healthcare access should be a basic human right in America. We spent $2 billion on the banks last year. Bandes interrupted and asked, “Should food be a basic human right?” After this things were heading for a major meltdown when David Shuster ended the segment.

I believe that most people in this country do believe that food is a basic human right. It is almost like Republicans when they feel threatened or like they are losing an argument, must resort to saying something completely insane. Of course, food is a basic human right, and Bandes undercut her own argument but putting food and healthcare on the same plane.

In right wing radical land, food might not be considered a basic human right, but the righties need to consider that if they didn’t have food they would die. According to West’s Encyclopedia of American Law basic rights are, “The basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, often held to include the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.”

Without food, a human being will die, thus will deprived of the basic human right to life. I always thought that this was obvious, but apparently not to the right wingers. These are the people who are making the sane portion of the GOP look bad. The far righties are the ones who are ensuring that their party won’t win another election for a long time to come.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association