In the Shopping Cart of a Food Stamp Household: Lots of Soda

[raging moderate]

13. I grew up hungry poor; no food stamps back then.

I have to support the poor people here. Yes, soft drinks are poor nutrition. Yeah, so what? So are most of the processed-food items the food Nazis would approve. My mother tried to keep us from drinking soda pop, but she had to work. My little brother and I spent the after-school hours scouring the alleys to find bottles to return, so we could get enough junk food in us to feel good about something. Being poor gives you so many bad feelings. My little brother cried himself to sleep most nights. To this day, I subconsciously ration the milk in my glass so I never need a refill.

Also, the guy who suggests that they are reselling most of these drinks is probably right, and good for them. That is the next thing my brother and I thought of, and we later ran a Koolaid/soft drink/popcorn/comic book stand in good weather, on the side of our apartment building. And after all, isn't free enterprise what the right-wingers think a truly virtuous poor person would do?