Will School Lunches Destroy Progressivism?

Students across the United States are getting a taste of progressivism. And it doesn’t seem to please their palates. The implementation of Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity lunch standards is encountering backlash from students and school administrators across the country. The program seems to have taught them a valuable lesson in the realities of progressivism — that when American voters give up power to busy-body progressives, the result is more control over their lives and the loss of individual liberties. They responded to this newfound reality with boycotts, social media angst, and filled trash cans instead of filled bellies.

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act has led to 1M children leaving the lunch line. Additionally, 48 out of 50 states are having a hard time complying with the new standards. Sodium limits, portion requirements, and calorie ranges for each group are leaving schools struggling to serve food that is edible and nourishing. The program faces many challenges, and despite its seemingly good intentions, the new standards are leaving a bad taste in the mouths of students, parents and school administrators.

“They’ll get used to it.” This is the line from the GAO and many progressives on the future of the new standards. However, this is also the line that may just be the death of progressivism. Perhaps the most significant aspect of Michelle Obama’s progressive experiment is that it is teaching the next generation what Progressivism truly is about — control.