this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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Why….. I grew up on free and reduced lunches. The return on investment here is immense.
I make six figures working at the highest levels of my career in support of government agencies. I used free/reduced lunches my entire schooling. It’s super ridiculous
Same, my property tax for this month alone will have more than paid for my entire schooling career of subsidized food.
Honestly what's an extra few hundred a year in taxes on the multiple thousands I'm already being asked to pay? Our district went free meals during covid and just kept it up. Free breakfast and lunch and there's no more stigma for getting it since it's everyone getting it.
Everyone seems happy about this, and it helps kids do better in school. Better than wasting all that food just because someone can't pay the $1-3.
Also, Republicans (supposedly) want people to get off of government assistance and earn money for themselves. You know what's a great way to do that? Get a good paying job. And a good way to get one of those is to pay attention and learn while you're in school.
However, if your family is poor and you need to skip meals, you'll be more concerned with when your next meal is. You won't pay attention and you'll have limited options to break the poverty cycle when you grow up. This leads to people still needing government assistance.
Just going from the supposed Republican talking points of "getting people off government assistance is good," free school lunches is a good idea.
And before anyone comments "just give the lunches to the kids who need them instead of everyone": Social pressure works against this. Kids don't want to stand out and being the kid that gets the free school meal is seen as a negative thing by many kids. Kids would rather skip meals than open themselves up to bullying like this. By giving free school lunches to everyone, the kids that need it can get their lunches without any social stigma.
Along with funding for libraries, I think free school lunches are a great use of taxpayer money!
Don't you know? The only necessary welfare is mine
https://youtu.be/eyGND49CBYk
british comic stuart lee on the subject.
Why? Assuming this is not a rhetorical question, it follows directly from the core authoritarian principle of Conservatism in the U.S.: Moral Hierarchy. That is to say, Those who rule are privileged above those who serve, and this is the basis of a ranked ever-swelling staircase of privilege.
Any action or policy that supports the hierarchy is divine, and whatever threatens the hierarchy is evil. Free food, or food as a right, is antithetical to Conservatism because it diminishes a key point of leverage held by rulers going up the chain. When a person is fed, they are less inclined to honor the privilege of their supposed rulers. When a person is truly hungry, they are highly motivated to submit, and even to support the hierarchy that provides them with any limited access to food.
In this philosophy, the ROI of free lunch is negative. The same argument applies to most forms of welfare.
The cruelty is the point.
Obviously being nice to 1 person just leads to communism! I'll bet you now believe that people should have access to food, clean water, clean air, health care, and shelter as well? DON'T YOU!?
I do as well. :-)
Same here, kept me fed during my high school years. Don’t know what I would’ve done without it.