9 thoughts on “Feds to dictate foods in school vending machines”
Geoff: sorry I expressed myself poorly. – in a round-about- way I actually agree with you. We should learn from the past – we should not repeat the mistakes of the past and call that “knowledge”.
“The job of government is to provide society with sensible values and standards.” I beg — demand — to differ.
When government provides societies with “sensible” values and standards, you get theocracy (much of Europe from 800 ish to 1850 ish, the Separatists in New England, the Muslim world now) or totalitarianism (Soviet Union, Cuba) or soft nanny-bully statism (Europe and Japan).
The US was founded on the opposite idea: that the society would give the government “sensible values and standards” and that we would use our government for mutual, public goods like public safety and national defense. Americans at least should “throw them out” as the legislators and their minions in agencies put heavy hands on our cars, our diets, and our light bulbs. We haven’t — apparently too many voters will give up their rights to keep their pensions — but we should.
Let’s maybe look at whether children are good at choosing their own food in an environment (school) that most of them HATE (usually with good reason). Hey – you go for candy bars and quick fix solutions to stress (nothing like sugar, junk food and booze to handle stress) – but is it the right way to go?. So – let the black market entrepeneur kids handle the junk loot (potential gangsters?). And let your government take some sort of responsibility for what’s legally available in their school canteen – with the advice of qualified nutritionists (remember – most doctors know little about nutrition – it is not part of their training.) The job of government is to provide society with sensible values and standards. Generally, in democracies, they do a pretty good job. If not – throw them out. That’s what democracy is all about.
State & local governments are hooked on federal money. The strings that are attached are becoming increasingly burdensome and invasive – including absurdities such as that reported here and the re-paving and re-striping of roads to add bike lanes to 4-lane thoroughfares. The states that can kick the habit will be the ones that thrive.
The people of Syria and Egypt reacted to a dictatorial government with lethal force. Obama needs gun controls for the obvious reason. The people are not going to let him violate the constitution.
This illustrates the devil’s bargain of federal funding. When the federal government sends some of the money, it conditions the funds on meeting federal requirements.
Now there’s a place for this kind of thing. If the feds are funding road construction, which facilitates interstate commerce, the feds should require that the roads be safe and long-lasting. If the feds are funding a chemistry lab at a school, the chemistry lab should be safe and useful.
But then we soon find the beast is off the leash. Federal highway funding is linked to states’ laws on drinking age? Puh-leeze.
All the more reason for states to reduce federal involvement in their activities — except that if Montana cuts back on Medicaid funding, reducing the federal and state burdens both, our federal taxes will remain high to support Maryland’s turn at the trough.
This development has given rise to a growing business for entrepreneurial students who buy in supplies of all those nasty things banned by the Feds and selling them on at a profit! Go private enterprise!
The feds have been regulating what can be sold in vending machines in schools for years as a requirement for schools to receive Federal school lunch funds. It was part of their anti-obesity agenda — remember when HHS issued its “war on obesity” in 2004?. Nothing is allowed to compete with the diet the government has put school children on in its school lunch program.
What in God’s holy name gives the Federal Government the right to regulate what goes into vending machines beyond the FDA mandate for a safe food supply?
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Geoff: sorry I expressed myself poorly. – in a round-about- way I actually agree with you. We should learn from the past – we should not repeat the mistakes of the past and call that “knowledge”.
“The job of government is to provide society with sensible values and standards.” I beg — demand — to differ.
When government provides societies with “sensible” values and standards, you get theocracy (much of Europe from 800 ish to 1850 ish, the Separatists in New England, the Muslim world now) or totalitarianism (Soviet Union, Cuba) or soft nanny-bully statism (Europe and Japan).
The US was founded on the opposite idea: that the society would give the government “sensible values and standards” and that we would use our government for mutual, public goods like public safety and national defense. Americans at least should “throw them out” as the legislators and their minions in agencies put heavy hands on our cars, our diets, and our light bulbs. We haven’t — apparently too many voters will give up their rights to keep their pensions — but we should.
Let’s maybe look at whether children are good at choosing their own food in an environment (school) that most of them HATE (usually with good reason). Hey – you go for candy bars and quick fix solutions to stress (nothing like sugar, junk food and booze to handle stress) – but is it the right way to go?. So – let the black market entrepeneur kids handle the junk loot (potential gangsters?). And let your government take some sort of responsibility for what’s legally available in their school canteen – with the advice of qualified nutritionists (remember – most doctors know little about nutrition – it is not part of their training.) The job of government is to provide society with sensible values and standards. Generally, in democracies, they do a pretty good job. If not – throw them out. That’s what democracy is all about.
State & local governments are hooked on federal money. The strings that are attached are becoming increasingly burdensome and invasive – including absurdities such as that reported here and the re-paving and re-striping of roads to add bike lanes to 4-lane thoroughfares. The states that can kick the habit will be the ones that thrive.
The people of Syria and Egypt reacted to a dictatorial government with lethal force. Obama needs gun controls for the obvious reason. The people are not going to let him violate the constitution.
This illustrates the devil’s bargain of federal funding. When the federal government sends some of the money, it conditions the funds on meeting federal requirements.
Now there’s a place for this kind of thing. If the feds are funding road construction, which facilitates interstate commerce, the feds should require that the roads be safe and long-lasting. If the feds are funding a chemistry lab at a school, the chemistry lab should be safe and useful.
But then we soon find the beast is off the leash. Federal highway funding is linked to states’ laws on drinking age? Puh-leeze.
All the more reason for states to reduce federal involvement in their activities — except that if Montana cuts back on Medicaid funding, reducing the federal and state burdens both, our federal taxes will remain high to support Maryland’s turn at the trough.
This development has given rise to a growing business for entrepreneurial students who buy in supplies of all those nasty things banned by the Feds and selling them on at a profit! Go private enterprise!
The feds have been regulating what can be sold in vending machines in schools for years as a requirement for schools to receive Federal school lunch funds. It was part of their anti-obesity agenda — remember when HHS issued its “war on obesity” in 2004?. Nothing is allowed to compete with the diet the government has put school children on in its school lunch program.
What in God’s holy name gives the Federal Government the right to regulate what goes into vending machines beyond the FDA mandate for a safe food supply?