Food Justice

"We're part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice."

--San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar

Eric Mar and his colleagues believe that they should decide what their constituents and visitors to their city eat. They think they have the right to influence people's choices.

In order to curb childhood obesity, they've taken the "happy" out of McDonald's Happy Meal.

Forget about your "unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

There will be no pursuing happiness in San Francisco if that pursuit involves a Happy Meal toy.

The city that prides itself on being an oasis of tolerance and freedom is stripping it away.

Steve Chapman writes:

Public health puritans, appalled at the spread of excess weight, think the government should forcefully guide our dining choices. And when it comes to policy, they are getting a place at the table.

Last week, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to hose the Happy Meal. No longer would McDonald's (or any other restaurant) be allowed to provide a free toy with a meal that exceeds specified amounts of fat, sugar and calories. If the folks at the Golden Arches want to offer a Batman action figure, it will have to be flanked by fruits and vegetables.

The impulse to overrule nutritional choices exists elsewhere too. In his last two budgets, New York's Democratic Gov. David Paterson proposed a tax on soda.

The governor says this would help cover "the $7.6 billion the state spends every year to treat diseases from obesity." Reuters reports, ominously, that he "did not dismiss the idea of eventually imposing a tax on other obesity-linked foods such as hamburgers and chocolate bars."

San Francisco Supervisor Eric Mar speaks in more grandiose terms. He said the Happy Meal ordinance addresses "a survival issue," and proclaimed, "We're part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice." Food justice?

Now, there are many places where the government ought to be: between a citizen and a mugger, between the polluter and the sky, between us all and al-Qaida. But the space between a diner's hand and a diner's mouth is not one of them.

The nice thing about eating is that the person who makes good or bad choices is the one who reaps the reward or penalty. If I scarf a cheesecake, you don't gain weight. And if I decide that consigning myself to the Big and Tall Store is not such a bad option, it's not your place to stop me from doing so.

You don't like what's in a Happy Meal? Don't let your kid have one.

"Food justice"?

That's nuts. It's funny, from afar.

I can laugh at the San Francisco nutjobs babbling about "food justice," but if I were impacted I'd be ticked off.

Parents should determine whether or not they give their child a Happy Meal, not the government.

I want the government out of my mouth.

...High-calorie food is not one of those substances that presents a mortal threat to innocent bystanders. Guzzle a liter of Fanta, and you can still be trusted behind the wheel of a car. Walk by a KFC, and you don't have to worry about secondhand fat.

True, my gluttony may cause me to end up morbidly obese and a burden on the medical system. But if that's grounds for regulation, we will all soon be surrendering our TV remotes to the police and doing daily calisthenics under the watchful eye of commissars in spandex.

Notice that it tends to be the same people who support the "food justice" agenda that also whine about government intrusion in certain cases.

They say the government has no business protecting the unborn. They insist on providing abortion on demand but want to discourage children eating at McDonald's and other fast food places.

Is abortion the ultimate tool in preventing childhood obesity?

The crusades of these big government types, like Eric Mar, are so inconsistent and arbitrary.

I feel sorry for the children in San Francisco. They're the victims of government run amok. Very sad.

I'm reminded of the tyrannical Burgermeister Meisterburger:

"Toys are hereby declared illegal, immoral, unlawful AND anyone found with a toy in his possession will be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon. No kidding!"

--Burgermeister Meisterburger