The United States is in an odd place in the long sweep of human history, a place where the most rampant medical issue among the poor is - you guessed it - obesity and all the issues that come with it. Some will blame this on "the poor not having time to cook proper meals," or "junk food is cheaper," or some such horse squeeze, but those arguments just don't hold water. You will also hear people against any manner of welfare reform claim that we "...can't tell people what they can or can't eat," to which the proper reply is "I can when I'm paying for it."
This brings us to Arkansas, which is the first state moving to prohibit pop and candy purchases using the Department of Agriculture's SNAP - formerly called food stamps - program.
Arkansas officials moved Tuesday to ban soft drinks and candy from the program that helps low-income people pay for groceries, becoming the first state to ask the Trump administration to let it restrict such items from the program long known as food stamps.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the request is aimed at improving the health of nearly 350,000 Arkansas residents who participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.
“It is clear that the current system encourages and subsidizes the overconsumption of unhealthy, highly processed and addictive food and beverages,” said Sanders, who announced the request at a Little Rock news conference with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
There can be little doubt that the SNAP program needs broad reform; banning the purchase of sugary drinks and candy, along with prepared foods, is only the first step in a long process to make this program fulfill its purpose of keeping poor people from starving, while restricting their diets to food that is, at least, healthy. More on that in a moment.
The Arkansas plan, which would take effect in July 2026, would exclude soda, including no- and low-calorie soda; fruit and vegetable drinks with less than 50% natural juice; “unhealthy drinks;” candy, including confections made with flour, like Kit Kat bars; and artificially sweetened candy. It also would allow participants to use benefits to buy hot rotisserie chicken, which is excluded from the program now.
I'm not so sure about the hot rotisserie chicken; to my thinking, no prepared foods should be allowed. "Take and bake" foods, like pizzas, should not be allowed either. The USDA and even HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are taking baby steps in reforming this system, but what's needed is leaps and bounds. Why?
Incentives.
It should not be comfortable or convenient to be on public assistance. The incentives run all the wrong way; there should be a small societal onus to being on these programs; they should be visible and limited. The SNAP program should be visible, as it was back in the day when the benefits were still paper coupons. In fact, the program should be reverted to that, only rather more so; each recipient should receive an 8 1/2" by 11" paper, clearly marked "GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE FOOD VOUCHER," allowing the recipient to exchange it for limited items: A certain amount of bulk rice, beans, and flour, a certain amount of lean turkey or chicken, and if there are children, a certain amount of milk and (if required) baby foods. And only certain outlets would be allowed to accept these vouchers; no convenience stores, only major grocery chains.
No junk food. No candy. No pop. No premium meats. No take-and-bake foods. This is paid for by the taxpayers. We have every right to limit SNAP recipients to healthy foods - and more importantly for we taxpayers, inexpensive foods. Today, on Tax Day, of all days, we should bear this in mind.
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