The Nanny State Invades The School Cafeteria
Today’s New York Times reports that the Senate is about to consider a proposal to ban candy, soda, and fatty foods from the nation’s school cafeterias:
Federal lawmakers are considering the broadest effort ever to limit what children eat: a national ban on selling candy, sugary soda and salty, fatty food in school snack bars, vending machines and à la carte cafeteria lines.
(…)
The nutrition standards would allow only plain bottled water and eight-ounce servings of fruit juice or plain or flavored low-fat milk with up to 170 calories to be sold in elementary and middle schools. High school students could also buy diet soda or, in places like school gyms, sports drinks. Other drinks with as many as 66 calories per eight ounces could be sold in high schools, but that threshold would drop to 25 calories per eight-ounce serving in five years.
Food for sale would have to be limited in saturated and trans fat and have less than 35 percent sugar. Sodium would be limited, and snacks must have no more than 180 calories per serving for middle and elementary schools and 200 calories for high schools.
And to make the blow against Federalism even more pronounced:
Although states would not be able to pass stronger restrictions, individual school districts could.
Can someone please point me to the portion of Article I, Section VIII of this document that gives Congress the authority to decide what appears on a child’s lunch tray on a daily basis ? Yes, I know that Congressional power has expanded far beyond where it was intended but there are times when the grab for power is so egregious and unauthorized that it becomes, for lack of a better term, galling.
But will the American people protest ? Will they flood Congressional phone lines in protest of this latest invasion of the nanny state into their lives ?
My guess is that, for the most part, the answer to those questions will be no. For the most part, Americans will look upon this as a good idea and will thank their enlightened leaders in Washington for telling them what their children should eat because, you know, we’re all too stupid to figure that out.
H/T: Cato@Liberty
