Why was Michelle Obama so angry at Donald Trump last week? Her dander is up for the same reason her husband’s is—Trump is systematically chipping away at their “legacy.”
Speaking at a health conference last week, Mrs. Obama expressed horror at Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s announcement that his department would be easing regulations on national school lunch dictums highly favored by the former first lady.
Perdue said, “If kids aren’t eating the food, and it’s ending up in the trash, they aren’t getting any nutrition—thus undermining the intent of the program.” But common sense isn’t the Left’s strong suit. Control is its raison d’etre.
The former first lady’s reaction was predictable. “You have to stop and think: Why don’t you want our kids to have good food at school? What is wrong with you and why is that a partisan issue?” She continued: “Why would that be political?”
align=”left” But here’s the thing: Our children have told us the lunchtime rules are making them miserable. Administrators have been grumbling, but they are fearful of making too much of a fuss.
Her formulation is what we’ve come to expect, isn’t it? Obama accuses Perdue (and Trump) of not wanting “our” kids to have good food at school. But as Perdue noted, if they aren’t eating it, what’s the point? And, as hundreds of thousands of school-aged children around the country have complained, the food isn’t good. It’s often inedible and thus wasted, or there’s so little of it the kids end up hungry in the afternoon.
To return the favor, we should ask Michelle, “Why does Madame Antoinette want our kids to starve? What is wrong with her?”
But of course that would be silly. We aren’t Leftists. We are realists. If the food at school is inadequate, normal Americans adjust and ignore the goofballs who made the menu―either with wink and nod defiance or by simply packing lunches our kids will eat. But Michelle Obama and others Leftists like her want their hands in everything we do so that we know our place. They know best. The point is, and has always been, control.
We can see the same argument writ large as our lawmakers try to rescue America’s health system from collapse. If Obamacare is changed, “Americans will DIE,” shouts every Democrat within spitting distance of a camera. For some reason, if the government isn’t completely in charge of all of our decisions, we are supposed to believe, we couldn’t manage at all.
But here’s the thing: Our children have told us the lunchtime rules are making them miserable. Administrators have been grumbling, but they are fearful of making too much of a fuss. They know from long experience in the educational establishment that you can’t fight your betters when their shield is “the children” and, let’s be honest, the money attached to the demands of the feds keeps them compliant. Parents complain, but end up packing lunches or forcing their kids to pretend to eat slop.
Trump and Perdue’s decision should be welcomed by all sensible souls and life will go on. Yet if that’s the end of the story, if we don’t take from this episode some realization of why those ridiculous and controlling rules were put in place in the first place, we will miss an opportunity to understand the difference between being ruled and governing ourselves.
We need to always be asking this most important question when fighting the Left: “Who died and made you king?” And in this case, who died and made the former president’s wife the arbiter of what, when, and how our kids should eat while they’re at school? Why in heaven’s name did we acquiesce to this? Why didn’t we tell her to leave us the hell alone? Why are American citizens so easily cowed over something it should have been quite simple to defy?
If we give in so easily in matters this petty and obviously ridiculous, how will we ever be able to stop more egregious usurpations of our liberty? And why, pray tell would we actually believe Obama when she levels this calumny against Donald Trump for daring to say, “Hey parents, maybe you guys can decide what your kid eats at school; and for those kids whose parents aren’t paying attention, the local school can manage it without our interference. The feds don’t need to worry about this.”
align=”right” We need to always be asking this most important question when fighting the Left: “Who died and made you king?” And in this case, who died and made the former president’s wife the arbiter of what, when, and how our kids should eat while they’re at school? Why in heaven’s name did we acquiesce to this?
Michelle concluded her diatribe with this gem: “Moms, think about this. I don’t care what state you live in. Take me out of the equation; like me, don’t like me, but think about why someone is OK with your kids eating crap.”
She can’t seem to understand that her entire premise is flawed; the federal government should not be in charge of what or how much the children of America should eat at lunchtime. They can decide. But for Michelle Obama, all those decisions are for her and people like her to make for us. You see, this is how they do it in advanced societies . . . like Venezuela. (Speaking of places where people have to eat crap.)
The hysteria over everything Donald Trump does or intends to do should not fool anyone. It’s really not about Trump. It’s about you and me. We are the real targets of their disdain. Those who think they know better than we do about every manner of practical thing want us to know our place because insofar as we become a citizenry willing to thumb our noses at Washington, we are a threat to their very existence. So Michelle Obama has to raise the level of hostility and charge Perdue and Trump with wanting our children to eat “crap.”
This is pure nonsense, and she must know it. But she needs to believe that she can persuade enough vulnerable Americans to buy the fear that she is selling. Let’s hope those who don’t buy it can convince the rest of the country that this brand of “caring” is the real crap on offer.
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