Davis and her husband, Julius, both in their 60s, farm corn, peanuts, cotton, and wheat in Sumter County. She told me she thought putting food stamps into the farm bill had confused the public, making them think farm subsidies were a form of welfare, when nothing could be further from the truth. Obama, she said darkly, wants to give handouts to "his people," most of whom are not really needy but "have figured out how to beat the system."
"I have seen on the street signs that say 'Obamaphone,'" she said. "I pay for mine, but it's a free phone for them." (The myth that the Obama Administration has created a program to give taxpayer-funded cell phones to poor people is commonly repeated on right-wing talk radio.) Farm payments, on the other hand, were something landowners had earned. "I work for what I have," she said. "So I have a sore spot about that." Later, I found the Davises in the Environmental Working Group's farm-subsidy database. They had received at least $108,000 from the government between 1995 and 2012.
We are seriously trying to legalize discrimination.
