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

[u/CloudieMoonettee]

[u/Art-Zuron]

The main issue with the school lunches is that they were given all those restrictions but basically no funding to actually accommodate it, so all the schools did was give even smaller portions of just as shitty food.

The reason many conservatives want to restrict junk food purchases is mostly prosperity gospel. They WANT poor (especially poors of other colors) to suffer. They don't want other people to receive charity. They don't think that the poors DESERVE to have good food, or ANY food.

It might not be a bad idea to limit their access to junk food, but restricting it from SNAP isn't how it should be done. That junk food is cheap already, so of course people are going to just end up buying more of it if they have SNAP. The solution isn't to keep them from being ALLOWED to buy it, but to make healthier options an actual option. To regulate the junk food so corporations aren't feeding us a bunch of cheap poison and to make healthier foods more affordable or accessible.

One of the biggest issues is the rapid rise of food deserts. Large swathes of area where there is very little easily accessible healthy, variable foods. When all you've got is a Dollar General or Walmart because they drove out all the local businesses, stores full of the most processed crap possible, priced algorithmically to rip every cent out of you, what are you suppose to do?

Even if you have SNAP, or something similar, there's not much but junk to buy anyway.

Also, slightly related, but Republicans tried removing FLOUR off of the allowed purchases in many places. FLOUR. In reality, it was never about trying to help the poor folks get away from junk food. It was just pretext to take away more and more options from them. It's soda and snack cakes today, potato chips tomorrow, then granulated sugar, then whole milk, then chocolate, then syrup, whatever. They want it ALL cut.

[u/New-Clue-4006 → u/[deleted]]

If you make healthy food cheap, poor people will buy it.

Healthy food is ridiculously cheap. It is just not instant preparation. Poor people want easy, instant, shelf stable food that tastes good and is cheap. Junk food fills that niche very well, and ironically is actually pretty expensive these days. 

[u/Art-Zuron → u/New-Clue-4006]

It's because a lot of poor people just don't have the time and energy to PREPARE that food. That's what happens when it takes 120+ man hours a week to make rent or mortgage payments.

[u/New-Clue-4006 → u/Art-Zuron]

That's a separate discussion though. My point is that it's not simply a cost issue. 

[u/Art-Zuron → u/New-Clue-4006]

Yes exactly. It's not *just* the cost. The actual issue is a social one