Dear Dirty America

This is precisely what I have against conservative anti-intellectualism. To take a sound, well-intended program (one that supplements the diets of ostensibly underprivileged children) and spin it beyond recognition. Suddenly the fear is that “families that make a quarter of a million dollars or more” are going to drive their kids from their cul-de-sacs in the suburbs into the inner cities and peripheral neighborhoods for a bit of free watermelon and iceberg lettuce.

But most upsetting is not that this has become controversy (simply another in this unending war against all forms of public expenditure), but rather Jon Coupal’s trite suggestion that parents ought to prove their children’s eligibility on site. Not only does this defeat the purpose of making it an easily accessible program for the endemically underfed, but it becomes a barrier to entry and, indeed, an undue hassle that would drive away many of its intended beneficiaries.  That, and it calls to mind Arizona’s “stop and identify” policy.

Are we so vain? Is America really this foolish a place that the evils of public spending have to be toppled brick by brick, and at the expense of pediatric health?