One thing the corona virus pandemic has made clear is the high number of school children that are dependent upon government (via taxpayers) for meals. Both Florida and federal data show that 58 percent of school-age children are eligible for these meals- a number that has increased steadily over the years. Sadly, it’s nothing new. Government began supplanting parents here in 1966 (democrat Johnson) as a pilot program, and by 1975 (republicans Nixon/Ford) the program was fully in place. What began as “free” lunches grew into “free” breakfasts. What is telling from government data is both the growth and cost of this program. According to the USDA, taxpayer-funded school meals went from 500,000 students in 1970 to 1.8 million by 1975. The last year they reported data was 1995, and by then the number was up to 6.3 million. Using 1975-1995, the number of those dependent upon government went up by a factor of 3.5. Looking at population during the same time, it only went up by a factor of 1.2. The dependency rate went up almost 3 times as much as the population- many more children were depending on the taxpayer for food. The USDA reports the cost went up from $86 million in 1975 to 1 billion by 1995- an increase factor of 12.1, which outpaced both the population and the number of students. Ron Paul’s words about government health care apply here as well- we dump it on the government, they create a bureaucracy, and the cost goes up. Incidentally, the USDA reports the cost for just lunches in 2018 was $13.8 billion. They note the National School Lunch Program is the nation's second largest food and nutrition assistance program. I’ll point out that getting “free” stuff is human nature. A grandparent interviewed recently complained about the cost of his having to buy food and how thankful he was for this program.
What is the solution here? As with any addiction, the remedy is a painful one. Our children- along with their parents and grandparents- must once again be taught to be self-reliant. They must learn that providing meals is not a responsibility of the federal government, especially one over 20 trillion dollars in debt. Spending under Mr. Trump is on track to exceed the all-time record established by Mr. Obama- and those projections were before the corona virus hit. This same government places so much of a drain upon those wishing to be self-reliant that their ability to do so is very difficult. If nothing changes, these United States are in an unrecoverable spiral into government dependency. We see this in the support an outright socialist has received this election cycle.
Paul Henry