Brave New Year
Once the Christmas lights, ornaments and knickknacks were packed back in the basement and the college football bowl games over, I was struck by a very strange thought: our government tells us what we can and can’t eat.
Perhaps you’ve read about it: The New York City Council’s ban of food containing trans fats. And the bans that may follow in other towns, and for other foods. In fact, heaven forbid, for my favorite food, the kind that grows on the Liberty Tree. Maybe I was snacking more than I should have been during the holidays, especially when my teams were losing. (And I may sue the inventor of Hello Dolly’s). But my vice doesn’t make a virtue of the Big Apple’s totalitarianism. Even Orwell’s Big Brother permitted Winston Smith to smoke cigarettes and drink gin!
Sure, trans fat isn’t good for people. I get that. But the same goes for soda and cotton candy. And butter. The point is that in a free society, what one puts into one’s mouth is each person’s responsibility, each person’s right.
If government has the power to tell us what we can eat, what power does it lack?
On the other hand, rights schmights, why not just outlaw being fat? Those of us whose percentage of body fat goes above a certain threshold would be sent to camps where we could concentrate on losing weight.We could call these “concentration camps.”
This is Common Sense?!No. This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
