Obama Is Going To Make You Eat Your Vegetables
Welcome to Obama’s America, where the government won’t let you be unhealthy.
Don’t be fooled by the presidential burger runs. Obama and Congress are moving across several fronts to give government a central role in making America healthier — raising expectations among public health experts of a new era of activism unlike any before.
Any health care reform plan that Obama signs is almost certain to call for nutrition counseling, obesity screenings and wellness programs at workplaces and community centers. He wants more time in the school day for physical fitness, more nutritious school lunches and more bike paths, walking paths and grocery stores in underserved areas.
The president is filling top posts at Health and Human Services with officials who, in their previous jobs, outlawed trans fats, banned public smoking or required restaurants to provide a calorie count with that slice of banana cream pie.
Even Congress is getting into the act, giving serious consideration to taxing sugary drinks and alcohol to help pay for the overhaul.
I get that a healthy diet and exercise is something everyone should do for themselves. But what it isn’t is something the government should do for us.
We need to remember that being free means being free to make the bad decisions as well as the good ones. If some guy wants to eat cheeseburgers for five meals a day, smoke a bunch of cigarettes and wash it all down with beer and then die from a heart attack at 45 then fine. It’s his life, not Obama’s.
Because we are free and independent citizen. And while you can argue that in our health care system one person’s health choices can make care more expensive for everyone else, that is an argument against a health care system that makes the collective responsible for the actions of the individual and not an argument against individual freedoms.
The government shouldn’t seek to do good. The government should simply refrain from doing evil.
