Over the past few decades, has America become better known for our strength and our freedom, or for our waste and our waistlines?

If you don’t like your answer to that question, you might be one of the vast majority of Americans who see the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) movement as essential for our country’s future.

Deep down, Americans know we can and must do better for our health. That’s why the ideas and real-world impact of MAHA are so overwhelmingly popular. With a shift in focus and key policy changes, we can build a stronger, healthier future.

When many of us were younger, we learned in school about the importance of fitness through the Presidential Fitness Test. If you don’t have school-age children, you might not realize that it was shut down during President Barack Obama’s second term. President Donald Trump rightly reinstated the test this past summer, and states are already working to make it part of school again.

Furthermore, states are requiring a minimum amount of recess and physical activity during the school day. The federal government is backing those efforts with background facts, data, and guidelines — a partnership rather than pulling the rug out from under them.

Today, nearly three out of every four American adults are overweight or obese. Until last year, all 50 states allowed junk food and soda to be purchased with food stamps, and most able-bodied food stamp recipients do not work at all. A stunning 71% of America’s youth are ineligible to serve in the military because of weight, fitness, or drug abuse. And maybe worst of all, according to CDC data, life expectancy in the U.S. is a full four years shorter than in other countries.

That’s why the MAHA movement is striking such a nerve with the American public. It’s cracking down on unhealthy behaviors, fighting chronic diseases, improving Americans’ diets, and fixing broken health institutions.

MAHA is helping Americans break free from an unending cycle of dependency and poor health, and preventing children from developing bad habits and trapping themselves in a lifetime of obesity.

According to a national survey by the Center for Excellence in Polling, MAHA policies are overwhelmingly popular with Americans, in some cases almost unanimously so.

Ninety-four percent of voters support requiring public elementary schools to provide at least 20 minutes of daily recess for all students.

Sixty-eight percent of voters support banning the use of cellphones in K-12 schools during the school day.

And nearly six in 10 voters support banning junk food like soda and candy from food stamps.

These policies are overwhelmingly popular. And in the past year, many of them have crossed the line from “good idea” into the real world. Thanks to state-based initiatives and a supportive federal partner (finally), the tide of public opinion and policy is shifting in America.

The idea of banning the worst foods from food stamps is not new. State leaders, and even some cities, have been attempting to enact such policies for decades, to little avail.

Today, thanks to MAHA leadership from the White House and the executive branch, 22 states (and counting) have received approval to limit purchases of soda, candy, and junk food with food stamps.

That’s a major win, one that overcame powerful industry pushback, created its own momentum, and is today delivering real change in the face of inertia. Other states have an opportunity to keep building on this momentum; the American people have a clear appetite for turning popular ideas into real-world policy.

In diet and exercise, everyone knows that small changes can lead to big results. But the same is true for policy change.

The truth is that America’s poor health is undermining our strength, both in our individual lives and our reputation around the world.

Yes, personal responsibility and good fiscal policy are conservative values. But the wider aims of MAHA are American values as well — strength, health, family, and common sense.

After all, America is the “land of the free and home of the brave,” not the land of free refills and home of an early grave.

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Paige Terryberry is a senior research fellow at the Foundation for Government Accountability.

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Let’s Get Physical — MAHA Is Gaining Momentum Nationwide