I am in the middle of a five-day modified fast, so I am experiencing some hunger, just as I have several times before in my life: when I ran out of money as a college student, when I experienced the bare shelves of Eastern Europe during the communist era, and when I fasted for health reasons.
Although hunger is familiar to me, I was not surprised to learn that most Americans have not really experienced hunger. According to the Census Bureau’s Household Survey, 88% of Americans feel “secure” about having enough food, and most of the remaining 12% could find adequate food through charities or government programs.
Throughout most of human history, however, hunger was far more common than it is today. In a sense, it is “normal” to go without food at times, just as it is to experience heat and cold, though both hunger and exposure can be dangerous and even fatal for some persons. Although many Americans wish to forget these harsh facts of life, it’s important that they do not. It may seem as if we have gotten past the possibility of hunger or inadequate shelter, but history teaches that we have not.
Many populations still live with hunger today, and many over the past century have been thrust into terrible conditions. It’s worth reading a book called Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955 by Harald Jähner and Shaun Whiteside, because it provides a detailed description of conditions in Germany immediately after WWII. Within a decade, the German population of 72 million (along with hundreds of millions in other European countries) went from relative well-being to almost universal hunger and need. Tens of millions spent their days scrounging through the rubble in search of food and other necessities. The bodies of the dead were stripped of clothes and footwear, hospitals and schools were plundered for supplies, bombed out hotels were occupied by groups of displaced persons, private homes were broken into, and former restaurants were looted for food.
That was eighty years ago, but something similar exists today among the lower 10% of the world’s population that lives in extreme poverty in countries like North Korea, Cuba, Haiti, and many in Africa. Hunger and Human Rights: The Politics of Hunger in North Korea (2005) shows just how deliberate and “political” hunger can be in one country and almost certainly in others. In 1932–33, Stalin intentionally starved the people of Ukraine, and the same tactic has been employed dozens if not hundreds of times since. The average life expectancy in these countries is lower than in the West, as it is in Haiti (64 years), Burundi (64 years), and North Korea (72 years).
In parts of our own country, in states like Mississippi (72 years), life expectancy is no better, though not as a result of widespread food shortages. Not since WWII has there been general food rationing in America, and Americans have grown used to the idea that food should be universally available and affordable. That idea was tested during the Biden/Harris period of inflation as food prices rose some 23%, and many found it difficult to make ends meet. But there is still the naïve expectation that food and shelter will always be there and that nothing can change this. The reality is that things can change overnight.
Just as Germany followed the wrong course during the Nazi era, America could be reduced to poverty by war or fiscal imprudence. During the Weimar period, Germans are said to have trucked wheelbarrows of worthless marks to the bakery just to purchase a loaf of bread. The Biden inflation is just a taste of what could happen in America if deficit spending continues or if we enter a major war. Only conservative policy can prevent this.
The hunger I am experiencing at this moment is voluntary and of little consequence, but what Germany went through after WWII and what many populations continue to experience today is not. Nor would the condition of Americans during another economic depression or global war be voluntary or insignificant.
Food is the most basic of human needs, but there is no certainty that it will continue to be readily available. During my two years in Eastern Europe, just before and after the end of the communist era, I saw desperate people climbing into trash dumpsters in search of food. I remember one in particular: a young woman in rags with a baby in her left arm and a small bag on her shoulder, picking through the garbage for crusts of bread, bones with a bit of meat, and other edible items. More than one third of Americans view socialism favorably, but they have never lived under socialism or communism. Nor, I imagine, have they ever really experienced hunger.
In 1936, Robert Frost wrote a poem called “Provide, Provide,” in which he warned his readers about the consequences of careless and irresponsible behavior. “No memory of having starred / Atones for later disregard / , / Or keeps the end from being hard,” he wrote. The solution for both individuals and countries is to “provide”: to follow a conservative course of sound fiscal policy, military strength, and domestic production of essentials.
None of this was taking place during the Biden administration. Trump is attempting to restore sound policies, but he is opposed at every step by Democrat politicians, media, and academics who, presumably, want America to fail. Is there any other explanation?
President Trump recognizes the dangers and is attempting to steer the country back to safety. I hope our president is successful, because I know a little about hunger and other forms of deprivation and don’t wish to see the USA plunged into dire necessity. A short-term fast may be healthy for some persons, but long periods of hunger, cold, and homelessness are neither pleasant nor healthy, and we should work with President Trump to avoid them.
Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture.
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