Let's say Ford wins in '76, and Generic Liberal Democrat - why not Mo Udall! - wins in '80, etc. Needless to say, the U.S. goes to the left instead of to the right. Could fast food receive subsidies if the food is healthy? The obesity epidemic affects the poor disproportionately, so I could see this happening. And it's far more likelier than taxing fast food for being unhealthy, and once the subsidies are in place, a powerful special interest has sprung up opposing reversals...
Subsidized Healthy Fast Food
- Thread starter Plumber
- Start date
Why not just start a educational campaign? Normally movement based on 501c3 non-profits are more successful than government programs.
To help lower food prices so that impoverished people can afford to eat healthy?
No... just no. PSAs don't work. This would be taking that approach.
Not saying the subsidy is necessarily the way to go either, because honestly there root of the problem is actually state spending in this case. Specifically, you need to get rid of the corn subsidy. If you do that, most of the health problems in the US wouldn't be nearly as bad.
Yes, but this would be more plausible politically than killing the corn subsidy. Liberal Democrats have to bring home the pork, too.
I also think it's more interesting.
Orville_third
Banned
There was a fast food chain called "D' Lites of America", which had healthy food. Sadly, it didn't last too long.
There was an article in the NYT a little while ago about George McGovern's views on food policy which I found to be surprisingly interesting reading.
Obviously it'd be very difficult to devise a TL that would lead to a McGovern presidency, but there's no reason his ideology couldn't be implemented by a left-leaning Democrat. This could take the form of what's mentioned by the OP, or something else like an expanded Food for Peace program pre-empting the invention of corn syrup by shipping out all the excess corn. If your goal is a healthier America, that's one place to start.
EDIT: Sorry, misread the OP. My post makes no sense if Udall takes office in 1980, since corn syrup had been implemented before that.
Obviously it'd be very difficult to devise a TL that would lead to a McGovern presidency, but there's no reason his ideology couldn't be implemented by a left-leaning Democrat. This could take the form of what's mentioned by the OP, or something else like an expanded Food for Peace program pre-empting the invention of corn syrup by shipping out all the excess corn. If your goal is a healthier America, that's one place to start.
EDIT: Sorry, misread the OP. My post makes no sense if Udall takes office in 1980, since corn syrup had been implemented before that.