Now we see the Nanny State clearly. Obesity in America is bringing out he worst in the people who belive they can control obesity. Just like prohibition, they will go too far.
They put forth ideas like outlawing unhealthy foods in schools, taking out vending machines, not allowing fast food restaurants within a certain distance from a school. Making food producers and food retailers put up any number of pieces of data about every item they sell. Taxes on items the all-knowing feel are not healthy.
None of this will make one iota of difference. The schools won’t dictate what the kids eat at home. If the kids live with over 500 pounds of parents, they will grow up and raise kids in a household with over 600 pounds of parents. Bad food tastes good, good food doesn’t taste so good. Connecting the dots between eating healthy food and being healthy requires one to sacrifice today for tomorrow.
I was boarding a plane in Phoenix bound for Chicago. I watched the passengers from Chicago disembark. I counted no more than 20 passengers who weren’t overweight and at least 30 who were obese or morbidly obese. I counted the passengers from Phoenix getting on the plane for Chicago. There were no more than 20 total who were overweight. How do you explain this? Arizona people live outdoors. Hiking trails are always crowded. You can’t drive around on a Saturday and Sunday for the bicycles. Physical appearance seems to matter to people in Arizona.
Do the people in Arizona who have decided to take care of themselves, eat right, and exercise need the same Nanny State as the people from Chicago?
Massachusetts showed where the line gets crossed. The state outlawed bake sales by schools to raise money. Supposedly, these bake sales were a major cause of childhood obesity. This happens at the same time schools are having budgets cuts due to cutbacks. The outcry from the public has been unbearable. The law is about to be revoked. If that’s the line, where should other laws like this be stopped? Outlawing Ronald McDonald?
If a US citizen wants to be obese that person has that right. You might say it will cost all of us with health care. You would be right. But, do the food police go into the person’s house and remove all the unhealthy food? There are those who would say yes. At least there won’t be any Twinkies there, since the union put Hostess out of business.
