I was once told by my dear editor (Ed: aww, thanks) that I am sort of a “liberal voice” of the opinion section here at Colorado Politics. I’m a Democrat, but right of center within that party. I asked if I could also be the “handsome voice” but I just heard the sound of someone choking on coffee, followed by an outburst of laughter, which I can only assume happened because the phone lines got crossed somehow (Ed: no, they didn’t). But today, I feel the need to talk about an issue that I would not have thought would ever be political – kids should get a good lunch. So, stay with me as I once again leap atop my liberal soapbox and bellow for a bit.

I suspect you saw the story recently about the Pennsylvania school district that sent letters to the parents of children with lunch debt of $10 or more (the average debt was $22), threatening to have their kids possibly placed in foster care until the debts are paid. Some of the school board members did interviews explaining that the district was cash strapped, and that it really needed the money owed by roughly 1,000 kids. One board member offered his thoughts on poor people spending their money foolishly, and implied that poor folks are just sponging off taxpayers when they “decided” to be poor. The issue is significant enough that there is a name for it – lunch shaming. Another board member pointed out that they were still serving lunch to the non-paying kids, as if offering evidence of the district’s largess, although state law requires school districts to feed the kids regardless of ability to pay. 

I was reminded of this story recently when I was driving an elderly family member to a doctor’s appointment. As we drove out of her trailer park, I saw a truck with a couple of people handing out food. I was informed that this was the summer free lunch program, a bridge between school terms, so that needy kids would get fed during the warm months. Not one of those kids was wearing a political tee shirt, nor were any carrying signs about hating America. Nope, it was just a group of perhaps 25 kids who got to have lunch that day. I’m proud of Colorado for its efforts on school lunches.

Now, I can almost hear my conservative friends warming up their megaphones to loudly announce that such programs are socialism (as is the police force, the fire department, you know the drill). And far be it from me to question that market forces will fix the lunch problem if the government would just get out of the way. As a career military officer, I never had to choose between a full refrigerator and a full medicine cabinet. I never had to worry about day care as I made enough money (thank you taxpayers) to allow my late first wife to be a stay at home mom. I never once wondered if my kids got to eat lunch. And I was often a bit bemused and a bit befuddled when my (largely conservative) fellow officers spouted off about poor people being lazy and just relying on the government (the irony of military officers complaining about getting money from the government is not lost on me, though it usually was on them).

And while most Coloradans have good and productive lives, with enough food for their kids, there are those who do not. The great recession back then put millions out of work and into the danger zone of poverty. As a result, I suspect there were and are people who never expected to need help who are now forced to think about food for their kids, if they have time to after working two different jobs. Many live paycheck to paycheck, and a single missed check could spell disaster. According to a a recent news report, the “working poor,” roughly a quarter of Colorado households, don’t earn enough to cover all the basics like food, shelter, etc. Are these bad people? Lazy people? I’m sure a few are, but the majority are just like you and me, had the breaks in life come at us differently. 

But even if you think that is somehow socialism, can we at least agree that kids should be fed? Can we find common ground that regardless of ability to pay, kids should eat? I’m happy for some of my tax dollars to go to that, and I bet you are too, because most people are good people.

And so, from atop my now-quivering soapbox, can we agree that lunch shaming is something we should never see in Colorado? Can we boldly agree that kids should get lunch?

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.