The United States is in an odd place in the long sweep of human history, a place where the most rampant medical issue among the poor is – you guessed it – obesity and all the issues that come with it. Some will blame this on “the poor not having time to cook proper meals,” or “junk food is cheaper,” or some such horse squeeze, but those arguments just don’t hold water. You will also hear people against any manner of welfare reform claim that we “…can’t tell people what they can or can’t eat,” to which the proper reply is “I can when I’m paying for it.”
This brings us to Arkansas, which is the first state moving to prohibit pop and candy purchases using the Department of Agriculture’s SNAP – formerly called food stamps – program.
Arkansas officials moved Tuesday to ban soft drinks and candy from the program that helps low-income people pay for groceries,…
