The Nanny-state's Work Is Never Done

The government has been telling us for years about all the things we eat that are not good for us: fried foods, red meat, sweets, salt, etc. As soon as we fix one bad eating habit, we are informed by the government of yet another one. It never stops; we never reach a point where our diet is now OK. Their work is never done.

Here’s the latest effort by the nanny-state to protect us from our bad eating habits. Kids in San Francisco will no longer be able to get a toy with their Happy Meal. The city’s board of supervisors recently banned the inclusion of a toy with meals that they deem to be unhealthy. In other words, Happy Meals as we know them have been banned in SF. Really; I’m not making this up.

The wise solons in San Francisco have decided that those pernicious Happy Meals are killing our children because the meals are so unhealthy, with all of that fat and red meat and, well, lot’s of other bad stuff.

Those evil fast food restaurants go so far as to put toys in those deadly Happy Meals to lure unsuspecting children into wanting them, not caring a whit about the death and destruction being so wrought on the young, all in pursuit of PROFIT. It’s an outrage!!!

It’s as bad as the witch with the ginger bread house who lured Hansel and Gretel in, and then threw them in the oven for dinner.

And you parents are either so dumb about what’s going on or so complicit that you readily take your kids to these fast food places and happily buy them a Happy Meal!! Revolting. You’re a menace to your children, and the government has now stepped in to exercise oversight on you irresponsible parents.

Now that Happy Meals have been taken care of, what’s the next diet danger for kids? All of that “trick-or-treat” candy kids get on Halloween is also wrecking their health --------.

The nanny-state has been busily at work in other areas. They have also been telling us for decades how bad smoking is for our health. In order to combat this national health hazard, cigarette advertising was banned from radio and TV and billboards, warning labels were put on cigarette packs, public information campaigns were conducted, and the rate of smoking went down dramatically. (Except in Asia. Don’t ever go to a meeting in a small room with Korean businessmen, as I did many times. You’ll suffocate due to all of the smoke.)

But here again, the nanny-state’s work is never done. Reducing the rate of smoking wasn’t enough. After that was accomplished, the nannies switched to second hand smoke. In this next phase of the anti-smoking campaign, smoking was no longer a matter of personal choice where one could take the health risks if they so chose. No, we were told that smoking was not only bad for the smoker, but also bad for anyone who happened to be in the vicinity. Smokers became miscreants in the eyes of the nannies, and they had to be controlled, for the good of all. Planes and restaurants had to have “no smoking” sections, to protect the non-smoker from the smoker. And it was done,

But even that wasn’t enough. The nannies then told us we had to ban smoking in planes and restaurants and public building all together. And it was done.

Still the problem wasn’t fixed. Next, entire college campuses and office complexes and shopping malls had to become “smoke free”, to protect passers-by from the slightest whiff of drifting smoke.

The war on smoking is another example of how the nanny-state’s work is never done. No matter how extreme the measures are that are taken in response to some issue, we later learn that it’s not enough; more must be done.

The same is true with gasoline mileage for cars. One may reasonably ask what legitimate right the government has to dictate how efficient the cars we drive must be, but that’s a different issue. The point here is that miles-per-gallon requirements were set for cars, and they were achieved. But, now it’s not enough. We continually hear how congress wants ever more stringent mileage requirements. The problem is never solved. No matter how high the mpg of modern cars is, it’s not adequate. More must be done; mpg must go even higher. Eventually, we must be forced to switch to electric cars. The nanny-state’s work is never done.

I could go on and on. Air pollution: Much has been done over the past decades to clean up the air, but, again, it’s never enough. New boogie-men must continually be found, the latest for the air being CO2 (green house gasses). And you can bet that even if harsh CO2 rules and regulations are put in place, it won’t fix the problem in the eyes of the nannies. Once CO2 emissions are reduced, or if the CO2 boogie-man just goes away, a new air pollution problem will then be found, and the whole cycle will start anew.

How about guns? Alcohol? Same story.

The nanny-state mentality is very dangerous to freedom. These people do not believe in “live and let live”; they believe in “live according to our dictates”.

If the nannies are vegetarians because they think that is a healthier diet, they feel compelled to force everyone else to become a vegetarian also. If they ride a bike to work in order to reduce their “carbon footprint”, then others should do likewise. If they want to use squiggly light bulbs to save energy, then a law needs to be passed forcing you and I to get rid of incandescent bulbs. If they recycle, so must we. Etc, etc, etc.

The lesson here is to be aware of what is going on, and to oppose the expansion of the nanny-state.

Jessee Ring
Nov. 29, 2010