One of the “endearing” qualities of liberals is their uncanny ability to promote totalitarianism as “concern.” Such is the nature of the LA City Council’s ban on new fast food restaurants in an “impoverished area” of the city with “above average rates of obesity.” Translation: poor people are too stupid to make the right food choices for themselves, so we’re going to do it for them.
There was a time in this country when such an insult–one with racial undertones to boot–would have been treated with the contempt it so heartily deserves. The notion that any public official could presume to wield such power over the lives of individual citizens would have been deemed preposterous. Nowadays however, such detestable behavior elicits little more than grudging resignation. Why?
Incrementalism. Liberalism is all about shoving unadulterated crap down the publics’ throat in small enough doses to make it seem “reasonable.” Big Tobacco was the blueprint. We can’t make cigarettes illegal, but if, little by little, we make the restrictions on its use onerous enough we can achieve the same de facto result.
LA bans fast food in one section of town. If that holds, more sections will follow. Perhaps such a ban will eventually extend to the whole state–just like trans fats ban has. Every step of the way, people will be reminded that the relinquishment of personal choice and individual freedom is a small price to pay for the “general well-being of everyone.”
Of course, many people warned us that cigarettes were merely the tip of the do-gooder iceberg. For such prognostications, they were ridiculed. No one would mess with our food. That would be a bridge too far.
Now that we’re crossing that far bridge, let me tell you what’s next: virtually anything that can be deemed injurious or unhealthy. The rationale? Reducing the individual’s “burden” on the healthcare system.
Who determines what burden? In Oregon, 53-year-old Randy Stroup has prostate cancer, but no health insurance. State officials have determined that chemo-therapy is too expensive, so they have offered him physician-assisted suicide (legal in that state) as the “cheaper” alternative. Such is the nature of government-sponsored “concern” in Oregon.
Mr. Stroup probably should have purchased his own health insurance. That would have been the “responsible” thing to do. Ironically, taking responsibility for one’s life is precisely what the LA City Council is determined to undermine.
The big picture? Liberals are determined to eliminate one of life’s most reliable learning systems: trial and error. That trail and error is the essence of freedom?
Forget about it–fatso.
atahlert@comcast.net
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