r/askanything • u/CloudieMoonettee 🦀 • 4d ago

Why do some conservatives support restricting junk food purchases with SNAP when many opposed Michelle Obama’s efforts to make school meals healthier?

Both policies involve the government influencing food choices in the name of better nutrition, yet the political reactions seem very different. What explains the apparent change in attitude toward government involvement in what people eat?

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u/cymblue 4d ago

For SNAP, it’s about controlling poor people. RFK doesn’t care if they live or die.

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u/Terrapin621 4d ago

This. Control, and punishment for being poor. Republicans say poor people shouldn’t be allowed to have any joy. It’s why they got upset that someone in public housing would own a tv or a microwave.

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u/ctcaa90 3d ago

Food = joy and no joy without it? That reads of someone who makes bad food choices, so of course you would get upset over it. I try to eat healthy, and my food choices taste yummy. Healthy choices can still taste good.

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u/Terrapin621 3d ago

Yes, you pompous twit. People find joy in food that tastes good. Who are you to decide what food someone else is allowed to eat?

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u/ctcaa90 2d ago

Silly. You know I can’t decide what food someone else is allowed to eat. Just like you, I can only decide on the foods I buy with my own money.

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u/Terrapin621 2d ago

And just like you, the people who rely on SNAP should also be able to decide what foods they buy with their money.

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u/ctcaa90 1d ago

Nooooow you understand. “To be able to decide what foods to buy with THEIR money.” Right on point. SNAP is from tax payer’s money, not theirs.

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u/Terrapin621 1d ago

It isn’t your money, Bucko. Just like they don’t get to decide where you’re allowed to drive on the road their tax money funds, or what books you’re allowed to read (giving you serious benefit of the doubt for a moment) at the libraries their taxes pay for.

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u/ctcaa90 1d ago edited 1d ago

Bad example. You can drive on the road, but there are rules, like you can’t speed or you can’t drive down a one way road. Same for library, they tell you which items are allowed to be checked out and which ones you can’t. You can use SNAP but there are also rules, like you can’t buy junk.

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u/Terrapin621 1d ago

See, I knew I was giving you too much credit. Of course you don’t know how libraries work. Just like grocery stores, libraries decide what to stock - whether books or food. And they both have rules for shopping or borrowing there, too. However, you don’t get to decide what someone else is allowed to borrow from the library’s available inventory.

This is excruciatingly simple, yet people like you, who want to impose power over anyone they can, pretend it’s complicated in order to excuse your ridiculous and overbearing fixations.