Submitted by Connie Weston on December 10, 2010

In a recent article titled, Health Tyrants: No Happy Meals!, Walter Williams makes a very good case as to why good intentions by government can turn into monumental consequences. He writes:

“Do federal, state and local governments have a right to intervene in our lives when it comes to choices affecting our health? The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to forbid restaurants from giving gifts with meals that contain too much fat and sugar, a measure aimed at McDonald’s Happy Meals. The reasoning of these tyrants is to prevent McDonald’s from using toys to lure children into liking foods the board deems non-nutritious. Fortunately, San Francisco’s mayor, Gavin Newsom, by no means a libertarian, has threatened to veto the measure saying, ‘Despite its good intentions, I cannot support this unwise and unprecedented governmental intrusion into parental responsibilities and private choices.’ “

It all sounds logical at first. I, for one, wish tobacco, alcohol, and drugs had never been grown, discovered, or invented. I wish cane sugar still lingered near a backwoods somewhere still waiting for the first set of human hands to touch it. I suppose it would be great if humans had never discovered how wonderful the taste of animal flesh over burning coals is or had ever ingested all the artery clogging fat therein. Not to mention, all of the man-made chemicals we now find ourselves drowning in, in virtually every area of our lives. Although every reason under the sun has been given for each and every one of those chemicals to exist for our benefit and safety and also seemed reasonable and logical to someone or some group of honorable people at the time. It is all here and we live in it. Wouldn’t it be great if government could fix the error of our ways? Government could outlaw everything unhealthy overnight and we could just be done with it. We could live in granola land and all of our children could be safe and healthy and free. . . . . .Reality check . . . . .

This is not what we live in.This is not what any of us alive today were born into. If good health is what we desire, it is something we have to work or fight for, either as individuals or as members of greater society, and we have to do it for ourselves. Is it reasonable for us to expect government to do this for us? At this point it would seem highly illogical. The government has a terrible track record of keeping us safe and healthy or even respecting simple rights such as privacy. Considering the unpopularity of Health Care Reform for obvious reasons and the recently passed Food Safety Modernization Act despite all opposition, it would appear that the majority of Americans do not believe that ‘government knows best’. If we continue to allow the FDA with their track record to “deem” what is nutritious or non-nutritious, safe or unsafe, we are in serious trouble, for raw milk appears to be a more dangerous substance than fluoride or mercury, two substances that are even good for you, according to them.

Mr. Williams states:”If the board of supervisors gets away with this intrusion into parental responsibilities and choices, we can bet the rent money that they will not stop with McDonald’s Happy Meals. The reason is that Happy Meals are not the only contributors to child obesity.” Williams gives many of the disastrous effects of this type of governmental regulation and what it could turn into. If one thinks this is far-fetched, he also gives the very real example of what a few good-intentioned warning labels on cigarette packs ultimately morphed into to present day, and says, “That’s the tyrant’s strategy: Attacking people’s rights to property and liberty on a piecemeal basis reduces resistance.”

He continues, “We Americans have given federal, state and local governments the right to interfere with any aspect of our lives when it comes to issues of health. So should we be surprised when an emboldened Congress enacts Obamacare, even though most American were against it, that not only mandates that we purchase health insurance but will eventually control virtually every aspect of our health care? Should we be surprised when government tells us what food to give our children? If you think government has the right to look after our health, how far would you have it go? How about a congressional mandate for morning calisthenics, eight glasses of water a day and eight hours of sleep each night?”

Sources:

http://www.oaoa.com/opinion/meals-56393-health-choices.html

Health Freedom Alliance
Health & Wellness Foundation
CHAD Foundation   http://www.healthfreedomalliance.org