If It Were Violence or a Disease!

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I heard a guy on the radio today -- I think they said he was the NYC Health Commissioner -- defending Bloomberg's ban on huge sodas. He said (I quote from memory): "8400 people a year in New York City die from obesity: if this were an epidemic of violence or a disease, we'd have people everywhere clamoring for a solution."

Now, as a card-carrying "statist," I'm not totally against paternalistic legislation. But really, is this guy just talking to hear himself talk, or does he really think that contracting cancer or getting killed in the crossfire of a gang fight is pretty much equivalent to "contracting" a 50-inch waist line through wolfing down slurpies and buckets of fried chicken?

Comments

  1. jeremy h.12:20 AM

    It seems that people everywhere *are* clamoring for a solution.

    ReplyDelete

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