Remember when Obama wanted kids to be healthy and Republicans lost their minds?
Remember when Obama wanted kids to be healthy and Republicans lost their minds? | Opinion You want government officials to control the ultra-processed and dye-delicious foods I want my kids to eat? Sounds like the 'K' in 'RFK Jr.' stands for 'Karl Marx.'
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Trump officials want to ban junk food from SNAP
Newly confirmed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has urged the government to ban SNAP from being used towards processed foods.
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It seems clear, based on my years of listening to conservatives holler about liberty, that Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a nanny-state liberal who wants to tell Americans what they can and can't eat.
In a recent statement, Kennedy said: 'I urge every governor to champion legislation that bans ultra-processed foods and dyes in public schools, and submit a waiver to the USDA to remove soda from SNAP.'
Do you want government officials to control the ultra-processed and dye-delicious foods I want my kids to eat? Sounds like the 'K' in 'RFK Jr.' stands for 'Karl Marx.'
RFK Jr. goes full nanny state on America's school-lunch programs
A recent Kennedy opinion column published right here at USA TODAY, co-written with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, discussed childhood obesity and concluded this: 'As the leaders put in charge of overseeing our nation's food supply and human services, we have a duty to fix this.'
To make sure I was responding properly to what I assume is communism, I looked back on how my conservative friends responded to health and food-safety initiatives that came up while Barack Obama was president.
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I'm sure conservatives are mad at RFK Jr. like they were at Michelle Obama
In 2010, as part of first lady Michelle Obama's 'Let's Move' campaign, President Obama established a childhood obesity task force, prompting Fox News host Sean Hannity to say: 'We now, in our government, have a government obesity task force, all right? An Obama government obesity task force. Does every American family need a dietician appointed by the government to tell them that this food is going to make you fat and this food is not?'
The task force issued voluntary recommendations, but Fox News went with 'the first lady's task force is cutting into our diets and our rights.'
Suggesting our kids eat healthier is the same as communism
They should get a load of the left-wing-extremist rhetoric Kennedy and Rollins put forth in their April 8 column, sounding just like government officials who want to control what we feed our kids:
'First, we are advancing buy American policies that will get food grown by American farmers into the hands of children and families through our nutritious food programs. ...
"Second, our two agencies are pursuing reform to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We will encourage taxpayer dollars to go toward wholesome foods, such as whole milk, fruits, vegetables and meats.'
So I guess I, a taxpaying American parent, no longer have a say in what my kid eats.
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Maybe I don't want my taxpayer dollars going toward fruits and vegetables. Maybe my deeply held personal belief is that Oreos and artificial cheese products are the best thing for my child's bone development.
'Get your damn hands off my fries, lady'
It reminds me of Michelle Obama's speech to the National Restaurant Association in September 2010, when she said: 'I'm not asking any of you to make drastic changes to every single one of your recipes or to totally change the way you do business. But what I am asking is that you consider reformulating your menu in pragmatic and incremental ways to create healthier versions of the foods that we all love.'
The then-first lady added, monstrously, 'It could mean serving 1% or skim milk. Or you could make healthy sides like apple slices or carrots the default choice in a menu and make fries something customers have to request.'
To that, then-Fox News host Glenn Beck said: 'When I heard this, I thought, get your damn hands off my fries, lady. If I want to be a fat, fat, fatty and shovel french fries all day long, that is my choice. But, oh, no, not so fast anymore, because now, we have the new fact, whether you like it or not, we have government health care now.'
One would think such a reasoned response that was apparently appropriate then would be equally appropriate now that Kennedy and Co. are the Big Government Food Police.
Is RFK Jr. trying to starve Americans? Probably.
Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin at the time called the Obamas' healthy eating initiatives the 'nanny state run amok.'
Beck alleged a food-safety bill was an attempt to turn everyone vegetarian: 'This is about control, and in the end starvation.'
Oh my God. Kennedy is trying to starve us. Or maybe just our children.
I'm not quite sure.
But I do know everything Kennedy is trying to do with his insidious Make America Healthy Again program is the worst form of government control over our lives imaginable.
Now, Kennedy is going to tread on my right to eat garbage
If I want to suck down a tube of Red No. 3 dye while my kid totes a sack of Twinkies to school for lunch, that's my right as an American!
I'm sure my conservative friends who raised hell during the Obama administration will join me in bipartisan fashion to protest this unfolding attack on liberty.
I'll await their response.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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