As the federal government continues to grow more intrusive on the lives of the American citizenry, this disturbing trend has taken hold at the state and city level as well, specifically in the city of New York.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the elected mayor and knighted Nanny of the city, has continued his crusade against personal choice and responsibility throughout his third term with ridiculous laws like the banning of smoking in parks. Recently, he has floated the idea of allowing apartment buildings to ban smoking altogether, coming close to nearly outlawing the habit. Today, as reported by the New York Times, the man without a doctor’s license took his healthy living fight a step further, arguing for a law to limit the size of drinks with sugar (soda, slurpees, coffee ect.) no more than 16oz.
The good Mayor’s reasoning, much like the rationalization of almost any constricting health initiative lately in the U.S., is the high obesity rate in the country. To cut down on this obesity problem, drinks can then be regulated by the amount served to limit the sugar intake of our citizens, helping prevent this disease and the vast complications that arise at its contraction.
I am no doctor, and quite frankly at twenty-six, one’s health is obviously lower on the radar screen of importance than it should be. At the same time, if I choose to have a soda, and a large one at that, then it should not be up to the city of New York if I can or not. I know, as all adults should, that having even one Pepsi (my all-time favorite drink) a day on average is bad for you. I drink water and club soda with most meals. The occasional Pepsi gets broken out if I am snacking or just in the mood. But when I am in such a mood, I do not need the Mayor of New York City telling me I can’t have one over a certain size. No one I know drinks water in the movie theater, and if one wanted to cut down on the ridiculous pricing of seeing a movie presently, it would be easier to split a large soda with his date than opt for two mediums. But under this law, he cannot do that.
If preventing illness by such measures is then acceptable, the Mayor should regulate the butter allowed on popcorn at the movies as well, to help prevent the possibility of heart disease from high cholesterol. Or maybe ban beer from Yankee Stadium to prevent the side effects of alcohol. At that point let’s get rid of Hot Dogs at the ball game too for whatever they do to you. Maybe ban ketchup- there’s a decent amount of sugar there. Only water and buns sold with mustard are allowed at Yankee Stadium now boys and girls, start spreadin’ the news.
As always with progressive policies, the one’s created to “protect” the people from themselves inherently limit their freedoms. Choice is no longer an option under such laws, and the Nanny state grows omnipresent as each new law is passed, making those of us with a head on our shoulders question as to how far the government can go. If all of this is in the interest of health, and that is how it is spun by our government overlords, then logically it follows that there is no way to judge where this crusade will stop. Thankfully though, The New York Times covered this story, and provided the public with this rationalization for these measures:
“The measures have led to the occasional derision of the Mayor as Nanny Bloomberg, by those who view the restrictions as infringements on personal freedom. But many of the measures adopted in New York have become models for other cities, including restrictions on smoking and trans fats, as well as the use of graphic advertising to combat smoking and soda consumption…”
Unsurprisingly, the NYT can be relied on to let the reader know that the government is always right, naturally because the people in office are smarter than you and I. The proof, much to the chagrin of the few of us who “occasionally” deride the mayor as a Nanny, is that other old rich white men governing cities around the country have taken these measures as well! Given the current state of the nation, it is comforting to know that we can rely on our mayors and councilmen to take time out of their busy schedules of passing on an all-encompassing debt on to our children and grandchildren, to pass legislation that won’t allow them to drink a large soda at a movie that they probably can’t afford to see in the first place.
If the mayor is so interested in dictating the minutest details in the lives of his subjects, as we seem to be nothing but subjects at this point, then he should just switch over to the Democratic Party. This will kill two birds with one stone, as it will rightly fit the ridiculous nanny state policies he has enacted as mayor, as well as ensure him re-election in Manhattan without having to spend half a billion dollars in the process.
– John P. Burns
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