Imagine for a moment that you suddenly had 20 percent less to spend on food.

Low income households in Maine, most with children, an elder or a disabled person, are experiencing this right now because of the recent deep cuts in the Food Stamp program. And unfortunately, senators King and Collins, and Rep. Michaud all voted for them. The cuts were hidden within a larger, basically good bill, and they decided to accept the collateral damage. Congresswoman Pingree, however, saw it as unacceptable. Bless her.

Here is a picture of the damage.

While the average Mainer is feeling frustration over the ever-rising cost of food and the shrinking purchasing power of the dollar, low-income Mainers find that fact, plus the recent cuts in Food Stamps not just frustrating … but utterly terrifying. People in that income level are stunned and speechless that this could happen. They were already struggling and in need of more help — not less. Many are now feeling a tremendous silent helplessness and despair over this heartlessness. Revolution happens when unbearable despair suddenly flips to rage. How much will it take?

Sen. King answered my query as to why he voted for this vicious cut by stating that it “avoids major cuts to SNAP and other important nutrition programs.“ Flabbergasted, I replied that his reality was theoretical and the reality of the recipients of the cuts was experiential … and extremely different from his.

The average household on SNAP has only $744 a month income. So while higher income families and individuals are finding ways to trim the fat from their budgets in adjustment to rising food costs — there is simply no more fat to trim on a low income budget. So faced with no apparent solution, the low income person’s hungry body begins to consume itself, and the mind begins to consume itself with despair.

This does not bode well for any of us, for in reality, we all sink or swim together. Currently we live within a warrior paradigm, which sees everyone as separate and in competition. But those who embrace a more feminine paradigm, know that we all are one and that what we do to the least of those among us we do to ourselves. The rich in the Dark Ages thought they were separate from the poor and allowed despair (as well as vermin and sewage) to proliferate until it manifested as the plague, which was no respecter of class.

Everyone on Food Stamps got cut. And now they look for expenses they can put off. The rent or mortgage? And face homelessness? The heat? And face dying of exposure? The electricity? And face having the furnace not run? Transportation? And face not being able to get to work? Child care? And leave the children home alone? There’s nothing else.

These are very real fears that people on food stamps face. They beg landlords, banks, oil companies, and CMP for understanding. Do you think they get it? Perhaps a little sometimes … but not enough.

However, those who have low incomes are not the ones who should be looking at where to trim the fat in their budget — the government should be doing that in its own budget. An organization called “Prime Cuts” has identified ways to trim $580 million dollars from our budget in one year. I don’t agree with all of their targets, but it’s a valuable exercise.

Norway, which is the richest of the larger nations, does not throw its low income people under the bus. They realize the tremendous importance of taking care of those who need help. Norway demonstrates that humane capitalism can work. Our form of cutthroat capitalism creates a small number of intensely rich people (the 1 percent) and an ever growing number of poor people.

However, while I approve of what Norway is doing, I don’t believe that forced redistribution of wealth through taxation is necessary, but rather a re-thinking of priorities and a cutting of waste.

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Brenda Nelson is a resident of Georgetown.