Food stamp bills seek to restrict junk food

[Ron Green]

19. I've got no problem with this.

One way to help people change their eating habits is to fill in "food deserts" with stores that sell real food. Another is to educate people about better food choices. Another is to stop the subsidy of Big Corn and Big Soy to the detriment of bio-diverse farming (and how about getting USDA out of bed with the Food Industry Lobby?) Another is to not use taxpayer money for stuff that's proven to cause disease and poor health.

NOT ONE of these changes will ever happen as a result of the "free market." People simply won't make good food choices against the odds of addictive, empty foods that are easily available and nutritional information that isn't.


I'm always surprised at the libertarians who come out every time there's an issue like this, as if "freedom" is all there is to it. If we leave public policy to the Free Market we get the cycle of food deserts, HFCS, disease and ignorance.