During his 1976 Presidential campaign Ronald Reagan told a story about a "welfare queen" from Chicago's South Side. Since then it has become a catchphrase used to describe poor mothers, particularly poor black mothers. It is a phrase that is used a disturbing amount even to describe those legitimately receiving welfare.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture more than one in 10 Americans, or about 31 million people, were using food stamp program to get by in October. The most recent numbers aren't available. I have to wonder what Reagan would say about the numbers.

When I was younger my mother was a single working mother. She worked as a nurse while also attending law school and still made time to spend with my brother and I. We were on food stamps like many other families in America. I've never known a person who worked harder than my mother, yet we still had to rely on the food stamp program for some help - to get by.

Still, I remember the dirty looks she would get sometimes in the check out at the grocery store when she pulled out food stamp vouchers. They saw her as one of those "welfare queens" Reagan had spoken about, and they judged without actually knowing that she was a hardworking mother of two.

What ever happened to "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free"? Have we really become such an insensitive nation that we judge others for accepting help they desperately need?

If nothing else maybe this financial crisis will cause people to look at welfare and so called "welfare queens" differently, because thanks to our current economy 1 in 10 Americans are "welfare queens" and many many more are struggling to get by.