Children with stamped wrists. Debt collectors hounding parents. Untouched food thrown away while an adult says: “You have no money.” In a dystopian thriller, these scenes might be dismissed as on-the-nose. But they’re all real humiliations inflicted over unpaid accounts in US public school cafeterias.

Contrast these chilling scenes with a different one: a proud, middle-aged former teacher in a suit, surrounded by beaming schoolchildren, signing into law a program that will feed every student in his state. The most adorable bill-signing in US history – and a vision for how simple it could be to improve our kids’ lives – came courtesy of Tim Walz.

The Democratic vice-presidential nominee and current governor of Minnesota has made a name for himself on the campaign trail with his fiery defense of progressive policies, not to mention his deft deployment of upholstery- and breakfast pastry-related inside jokes. But his politics has a gentler side, too, as evinced by the aforementioned universal free school meals program he helped create in 2023. This straightforward reform has resulted in 2m more monthly meals being served to young Minnesotans.

Universal free school meals are clearly appealing to voters, who support it at a rate of 60%. But beyond photo ops and polling, this policy encapsulates exactly the pragmatic progressivism that Walz has championed and the Democratic party might wisely emulate – one where seemingly intractable problems such as education reform can........

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