What's Next?

First it started with tobacco. It was slow and insidious. Creeping up on us, you know, for our own good. Starting with warning labels and no smoking sections in restaurants it has now evolved into banning smoking even in the great outdoors.

Helmet laws followed. I was even almost sucked into that one. After all I don't want my taxes paying for someone to be hooked to life support because he didn't wear his helmet. But guess what? Since PA has rescinded its helmet law fatal motorcycle accidents have gone down. Guess they decided to be more careful now that they aren't wearing helmets. It also helped that motorcyclists in PA have been advertising "Watch for Motorcycles" all over the place. Makes you think.

Next it was seat belt laws. You must wear your seat belt for your own protection. We must save you from yourself.

Then laws banning trans fat in restaurants; then in whole cities. What about labeling foods and letting the buying pubic decide? Okay, I get your point. Not everyone wants to think, they want to be led. Well the way I see it, that is great, they'll just do it without thinking and the Mother Nature's rule of survival of the fittest will prevail. Doesn't sound like such a bad idea to me.

Somewhere in there fast food became the evil empire out to destroy us.

Now it's salt. They are trying to get processed food companies to lower the amount of sodium they put in their food. Do they think that will stop people from just adding it back at their table? Are they going to start taxing salt like they do cigarettes. Testing people for sodium content levels in their blood and denying them work because of it. If you don't believe that can happen check out the part of this post that deals with a company trying to do just that to smokers.

Who are these people who are so desperately trying to save us from ourselves? Doctors who can't wait for us to come to them, so they track us down and tell us what to do? When we don't listen to their satisfaction do they get the FDA all hyped up? If that doesn't work they use the media to put pressure on lawmakers to do something about it.

Thomas Jefferson put it quite simply in 1776: "Laws provide against injury from others, but not from ourselves."

At least that's the way it's supposed to be.