“Onward comrade, bury the capitalist Big Gulp!”
The progressive playbook goes like this: create a national emergency and then fix it through government intervention.
In my lifetime the left has brought us:
1. Global Overpopulation — Solution: abortion and higher taxes for couples who choose to have more than one child.
2. Global Freezing — Solution: higher taxes that fund Byzantine environmental regulations via international agencies.
3. Global Warming — Same solution as #2.
4. Global Climate Change — Same solutions as #2 and #3.
5. Obesity is the latest threat to global nirvana. Thus Michael Bloomberg’s proposal to ban the Big Gulp.
Salt. Sugar. Transfats. Processed food. French fries. And Americans eat way too much starch. The list of bad foods is endless. And in truth, Seraphic Secret does not ingest any of this stuff—I dream about pizza—because we don’t want to be overweight, get diabetes and drop dead one fine day on Pico Boulevard.
But that’s my choice, my freedom to live my life as I wish.
Because more freedom is the answer, not more regulations.
The left wants less freedom. They know what’s best for the lumpen proletariat and aggressively harness every Ivy League think tank and dopey Hollywood celebrity to support the latest and most fashionable progressive jihad.
But it all boils down to control and higher taxes. Every single time.
The left want to build high-speed rail because a car means freedom to the individual citizen.But the left don’t see or care about individuals. They imagine a collective. Never mind that no one uses high speed rail, that high-speed rails cost the earth, never make a profit, in short high speed rail is just crony capitalism, a way for politicians to pay off unions and ta-da, get reelected.
Interpolation
Have you ever noticed that Socialists just love to shove people in box cars? It’s in their DNA. And not to beat an idea to death but the Nazis were the National Socialist Party and they really liked and made maximum use of trains.
End Interpolation
Of course, Obamacare is a natural extension of the leftist impulse to control every aspect of a citizen’s life. When the federal government controls your body they own you. In order to continue breathing you must pay ever higher health costs, ever higher taxes, and keep voting for the party that rations your oxygen. The system is rigged so eventually you will have no alternative but to keep feeding the slot machine that is called universal health care.
Of course, the political class who imposed national health care will never submit to the multiple indignities of an inefficient system run by resentful and uncaring bureaucrats. Those people will still go to their private physicians and, as in the Soviet Union, they will have their own private hospitals.
Look, if government controls health care it is inevitable that government will tell you what you can and cannot eat.
“Cholent is evil. It will kill you. Instead, eat cucumbers on Shabbos.” The food Nazis have spoken.
What’s next? How about banning cholent? Makes sense, afterall cholent is heart attack food. What about cheese cake on Shavuos? Do you really need ten thousand calories of pure fat in order to enjoy the holiday? And gee, let’s not forget latkes on Chanukah, which is thermonuclear french fries.
The road to slavery is paved with soothing liberal platitudes.
The Big Gulp ban comes at the same time that my state, California, has banned plastic bags from grocery stores.
Now when I go to Ralph’s, Pico Glatt Mart, or Meir’s Fruit Stand (best Persian melons in L.A!) I’m going to have to put up with bags on the check-out conveyor that have been who-knows-where and carry G-d- knows-what germs that will, inevitably, infect fruit and vegetables and spread new and novel illnesses. Besides being just totally gross.
If I want a plastic bag I’ll have to pay 10 cents.
That’s a tax.
In North Korea, a visitor will never see a citizen in a wheel chair. There are no autistic children. Babies with disabilities are murdered at birth or banned from public view.
This is the logical culmination of big government solving problems.
And of course, there are no fat people in North Korea.
Famine, in which 3.5 million people perished, took care of that.
Bloomberg should be honest and just ban fat people. That’s the end game here.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
19 Comments
This brings up a rather interesting question – what role should government play in protecting us. Certainly there are some things that pose both real and non-obvious risks, such as lead paint, that it was wholly reasonable for the government to ban. But that said, the same justification is being grossly abused in the case of the EPA’s regulations just enacted that will destroy our coal industry.
I think the bottom line is that government should never punish people or make choices for people when risks or benefits are known. The government should be in the business of providing information to make risks known. I can think of only one recent instance where the government got it exactly right – trans-fats. The government didn’t ban them, but they did making producers declare them on their labels.
All of that said, as you point out Robert, the left wants control. Thus the default position for the left is always going to be to dictate to the rest of us how to live our lives.
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GW:
Thanks so much for the articulate comment. As you indicate, this is a fascinating discussion that goes to the very heart of the Conservative argument for limited government.
The great irony is that progressives have an almost religious faith in big government and yet they heap scorn on big business.
That big governmnet is inherently more moral than big business is a big lie.
By the way, isn’t it interesting tnat Bloomberg doesn’t target the Double Chocolate Latte sold at Starbucks? They have about a zillion calories and are just as deadly as a 16 oz. soda. But of course, this ban is aimed at a certain class of people, those who cling to their guns and religion and Big Gulps.
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When you get that paper bag at the grocery, remember that you’d better not use it to wrap fish. As it turns out, recycled paper is a vector for the transmission of whatever germs the paper accumulated in its previous uses. Ugh! See http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-500165_162-57350204/paper-towels-actually-carry-germs-study-shows/ and http://women.webmd.com/news/20111228/study-finds-bacteria-in-unused-paper-towels. Yet another unintended consequence of our great liberal leaps forward.
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Barzilai:
I don’t even shake hands in shul. How am I going to go shopping now?
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James Lileks makes the case for how evil this is.
Oh, and if Mika Brezinski is for something it has to be doubly bad.
http://www.lileks.com/bleats/archive/12/0612/060512.html
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Johnny:
Evil is the operative word because our liberty is being eroded one step at a time by progressives.
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My university’s campus climate committee tried to do a similar thing with cigarettes. They gave a presentation at the Academic Senate last month, and I was gratified to hear a professor who was a naturalized citizen speak eloquently in favor of liberty in response.
He pointed out that it would not be a stretch to imagine that in the near future his Dodge Ram would also not be welcome on campus. If we let the so-called “enlightened progressives” determine what personal choices are acceptable (obviously sexual behavior and abortion are on their “okay” list, but Big Gulps and Marlboros are not), then the next target may be our own pet (and petty) vices. While I don’t smoke and can’t stand cigarettes, I think it smacks of tyranny to tell someone they can’t indulge in this personal habit except in their own, closed-up, vehicle. G-d forbid they roll the windows down on a hot day!
This impulse to control behavior–like smoking, or Big Gulps, or driving a beautiful truck–is illiberal and should be forcefully rejected.
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Dr. Carol:
The best spokespeople for liberty and American values are quite often those who have suffered under totalitarian regimes. They recognize that progressives are, at the core, fascists with smiley faces.
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A few years ago when I worked on a construction crew I would stop first thing at the 7-11 and get a 64 oz Super Big Gulp refill for 89 cents. Then after lunch I would stop and get another refill. Anyone that has been to St. Louis in July how easy it is to sweat off those 128 ozs when working outside and I never gained any weight. I’d do it today except 7-11 doesn’t have such a sweet deal anymore. I hope they didn’t cave in to pressure from health nazis.
Why do blue states like CA, NY, IL have such a large majority of sheep for citizens that sit back and let politicians micro-manage their lives? They are all so smart they’ll gladly quote Niemoller all the while the state goes after smokers or drinkers or other things they aren’t. Has anyone noticed that the ‘health crisis’ keeps getting worse even though our freedoms are gradually being reduced?
If anyone tells you these health laws are not an attempt to control our lives I suggest you quickly step aside or else their growing nose may poke you in the eye.
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Johnny,
I can’t speak for CA or NY, but IL is controlled by a few Democratic leaders. Pat Quinn may be the Governor, but Michael Madigan is the Speaker of the House and the head of the Democratic Party in Illinois. Ironically, I see the Chicago Tribune (not what I would call a conservative paper) is running a story dated tomorrow (6/6/12) which gives a peek at the Boss’s power.
Read it here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-met-kass-0606-20120606,0,7036415.column
The voting people don’t have much chance. Our last Republican governor, George Ryan, (the one who did away with the death penalty and is currently in prison along with former Democrat governor Rod Blagojevich) was a liberal at heart and, frankly, I think he got election assistance from the Chicago Dems. Not much happens in IL without their approval. That’s why it’s called the Chicago Machine.
Read the article. It is surprisingly frank…
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Joe:
Living in St. Louis with family in Belleville as well as Chicago I’m well aware of what Madigan and the Chicago machine have done to the state. Republicans in Illinois have to ask permission from the Chicago Democrats if they want to use the bathroom.
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Not true, Johnny! Republicans are still able to use the toilet at will… but there is now a significant tax to do so.
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It is funny that Bloomberg wants to restrict prosecution of pot smokers but really go after those Big Gulp drinkers! I don’t think the Founding Fathers has this kind of reach in mind.
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Note also that while people like Bloomberg love making rules for other people to follow, they aren’t too keen on following rules themselves.
It was recently reported that Mayor Bloomberg has been landing his helicopter at the E 34th St heliport on weekends, despite the fact that the FAA Airport/Facilities Directory clearly states “Heliport CLOSED Sat and Sunday.” (for noise reasons)
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David:
And you can be sure that Commisar Bloomberg has a staff of private physicians who will shield him from Obamacare if, G-d forbid, it’s not thrown out by the Supreme Court.
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You speak of the Supreme Court. Has anyone filed suit?
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Oh, just realized, you meant Obamacare, not the soda ban.
I can’t believe the ban is legal; I’m waiting for someone to sue.
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Obesity is the latest threat to global nirvana.
…
dopey Hollywood celebrity to support the latest and most fashionable progressive jihad
Maybe Michael Moore could produce a documentary …
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Exdem:
Good call. Yes, strange but true Michael Moore has not voiced support for the ban on the Big Gulp.
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