Posted on 09/30/2010 8:31:52 AM PDT by ChrisBoundsTX
Several months ago I wrote an article about the FDA’s move to regulate salt content in food in order to wean Americans from consuming unhealthy amounts of the substance. My overall point was clear – the FDA has no constitutional authority to regulate food choices despite their seemingly kindhearted attempt to help Americans. However, I received mixed feedback from that article. Some people surprisingly did not mind Big Brother stepping in and regulating their choices. To them, this was all much ado about nothing. I pose this question to that response: Is your freedom that cheap?
Our Founding Fathers knew all too well what the end result is of out of control government taxation and regulation. They knew it to be a slippery slope, which always ends in tyranny and oppression. They experienced that progression firsthand from Great Britain during the years running up to the American Revolution. We seem to be learning the same lesson now as our government, local, state, and federal are increasingly becoming nanny-states, marching down the same worn out path that tyrannical governments of the past have taken.
Food is just one front in the assault on our liberties, but the front is much bigger than just salt. Glenn Beck recently detailed numerous regulations that governments across the country are considering or have already implemented that even if based on good intentions, encroach on your God given inalienable rights. Here are a few examples:
Massachusetts: Boston considering limiting or banning sodas and other drinks in vending machines and snack bars to combat obesity.
California: Banned trans-fat cooking oil. San Francisco mayor banned Coke, Pepsi, and Fanta Orange from vending machines on city property by executive order. San Francisco is also considering forbidding restaurants from offering toys with children’s meals that do not meet national health standards.
Oregon: Health officials shut down a 7 year old girl’s lemonade stand. Tax credits have been proposed for breastfeeding.
Florida: City considering a ban on hiring tobacco users.
Texas: Elementary student given one week of detention for possession of a Jolly Rancher.
The complete list is available on Fox News, which includes other non-food related nanny-state regulations such as California’s restrictions on inefficient big screen TVs and the Labor Department’s crackdown on unpaid internships. This should show you the extent the government is willing to go in order to control the public, but this list does not even put a dent in the amount of ridiculous regulations that could be drummed up if someone had the time and resources to compile them all. The IRS tax code alone is over 7500 pages, and that is before the health care bill. There is no telling how long a complete list of nanny-state regulations would be!
This problem is becoming increasingly worse. More regulations that infringe on our liberties are continually being considered. Things that Americans once would have never imagined to be in the grip of government control are now being pulled from us and shoved under the government’s power rug. Despite many regulations being done under the guise of good intensions, the progressive seizure of our liberties is about primarily about power. The most despicable fascists the world has witnessed used public health initiatives and other excuses to usurp power and control over their people.
The only thing that stands in the way of that end result of an unchecked out of control government is the American people. We are the key to the freedoms we possess. The Founders could not have made that clearer when they printed “We The People” in the Constitution with large, bold letters before continuing the preamble with “of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
Ultimately, it is up to us to determine if want to our government to continue its power grab through nanny-state regulations like the ones listed above. We can choose to ignore the warning signs that are right in front of our eyes until the choice for an alternative is taken away permanently, or we peacefully push back hard and fast by all legal means necessary until the progressive controls in government are dismantled and disposed of, restoring the liberty in America as it was intended. But again, the choice is ours!
I kind of like the choice of low sodium products and wish there were more of them. jmo
That’s perfectly fine. The government does not need to make that decision though.
There’s no guarantee the companies would do it otherwise. I have no problem with it.
I’m also glad the government makes them list the contents in packaging.
I think we should have the freedom to make choices.
Looking at the fat, sugar and sodium contents on many items, its no wonder we are a nation of obese, unhealthy people.
I like having options and choices, that’s what freedom is about. Companies are notorious for trying to produce the cheapest product they can, and that often means junk food.
Without some sort of regulation we would be at the mercy of the manufacturers and if they chose to not give us options we would have no choices at all.
I have no problem with forced labeling. I do have a problem with the government telling manufacturers how they must product something.
Without some sort of regulation we would be at the mercy of the manufacturers and if they chose to not give us options we would have no choices at all.
Unless the government has outlawed home gardens, you always have the choice of growing your own.
That's a little difficult for handicapped people.
Life always leads to death, let’s ban living!
I can see someone in power actually contemplating this.....
[shiver]
The Electorate are too stuipid to feed themselves......
A few things:
1) What about company’s freedom of choice? Does the CEO not have a choice in how to make the product he created? The free market idea was that your time is valuable, thus what you do with your time is valuable. Therefore you own what you create and it is no right of the government to regulate otherwise.
2) Who is to decide what is healthy or not for you? Quoting from my last article, “If I want to eat potato chips and cheese fries until I am so fat that I must install an extra wide backdoor so I can wheel myself out to my truck, it is my choice, not the governments! If my grease addition causes me to have a heart attack and get rushed to the hospital in a flat bed trailer, foot me the bill and nobody else. However, knowing that poor health choices could hurt my pocketbook and even cost me my life, perhaps I will instead pick up a few apples and bananas at the grocery store that cost less than a bag of chips and salsa.”
3) Despite the lack of legal authority to regulate choices, if they FDA wants to combat obesity why not require everyone to work out for 20 minutes a day. Your body needs more salt when you work out and you burn a few calories too.
Again though, its not about salt or food choices. It is about power and control.
[ I kind of like the choice of low sodium products and wish there were more of them. jmo ]
It didn’t take an act of congress to make the current low sodium products on your store shelves... Why would we need one now?
Depending on the handicap, it is still possible. I was visiting a nursing home that had raised gardens so the patients could enjoy doing something they loved even though they were weakened and/or in wheelchairs.
Good grief. Eat all the twinkies you want, but, I want the choice of choosing something healthier.
That’s great, but, not all handicapped people live in nursing homes or even have back yards. Criminy, how obtuse are you?
Great! I am with you there. I am actually a health nut. I work out twice a day sometimes, run triathlons, and enjoy a number of other physical activities.
My grocery bill is less than $50 per week, mostly because I pick up lots of fruits and veggies to go with organically raised beef products, as opposed to chips, sodas, and microwavables. I do all of this without the government telling me to do it.
The choice is already there. The free market did it without the government’s intervention. There are organic stores, and organic sections within other stores. I see lots of low-sodium products available too if I desired.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.