The era of Big Government expands daily and one area of gratis goodies is free food. First the kiddies got free breakfast, then lunches and snacks so any unfortunate stomach rumbles would be prevented. In some places, free food is dispensed through the schools during the summer vacation months

Now we learn that nearly a million kids got a free-to-them dinner or an after-school feeding last year.

Perish the thought that parents should be responsible for feeding the kiddies; the government can do that job so much better, particularly with the First Lady heading up the nutrition aspect of the nanny state.

In addition, what about the valuable tradition of families eating dinner together? A 2013 Gallup poll found that 53 percent of adults with children younger than 18 say their family eats dinner together at home six or seven nights a week. But the government wants to intrude further into family affairs.

Actual financial hardship has become less necessary to qualify for handouts because poor kids getting free food might experience damage to their self-esteem. So some schools hand out government meals to all kids regardless of need, as happened in Nashville last year:

Metro Schools to offer free breakfast, lunch to all students this fall, WSMV-TV, June 11, 2014 Metro Nashville Public Schools will be providing free meals for all of its students this fall. Starting in August, schools will be serving up breakfast and lunch free of charge to all students, regardless of their parents’ income. [. . .] The program is aimed at not only helping families’ budgets, but also students’ self-esteem. “I think now that it’s inclusive and provided to all, there will be no way to look at anyone differently,” said [school spokesman Joe] Bass. “We’ll all be equal.”

I don’t think Americans would object to feeding children who are actually going hungry, but this is social engineering gone loony.

Below, hundreds of diverse Ventura County California kiddies lined up with parents for food on the taxpayer’s tab.

For background about the growing phenomenon of government (aka taxpayer-funded) food handouts, see my 2011 VDARE.com article, Free Food Nation (Immigrants Welcome, of Course).

The news story below refers to the Los Angeles School Unified District, with the ethnic information for 2013-14 following: