Posted on 04/28/2010 4:54:22 AM PDT by Kaslin
Here's how my June 14, 2006 column started: "Down through the years, I've attempted to warn my fellow Americans about the tyrannical precedent and template for further tyranny set by anti-tobacco zealots. ... In the early stages of the anti-tobacco campaign, there were calls for "reasonable" measures such as non-smoking sections on airplanes and health warnings on cigarette packs. In the 1970s, no one would have ever believed such measures would have evolved into today's level of attack on smokers, which includes confiscatory cigarette taxes and bans on outdoor smoking. The door was opened, and the zealots took over."
What the anti-tobacco zealots established is that government had the right to forcibly control our lives if it was done in the name of protecting our health. In the Foundation for Economic Education's Freeman publication, I wrote a column titled "Nazi Tactics" (January 2003): "These people who want to control our lives are almost finished with smokers; but never in history has a tyrant arisen one day and decided to tyrannize no more. The nation's tyrants have now turned their attention to the vilification of fast food chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Kentucky Fried Chicken, charging them with having created an addiction to fatty foods. ... In their campaign against fast food chains, restaurants and soda and candy manufacturers the nation's food Nazis always refer to the anti-tobacco campaign as the model for their agenda."
America's tyrants have now turned their attention to salt, as reported in the Washington Post's article "FDA plans to limit amount of salt allowed in processed foods for health reasons" (April 19, 2010). Why do food processors put a certain quantity of salt in their products? The answer is the people who buy their product like it and they earn profits by pleasing customers. The FDA has taken the position that what the American buying public wants is irrelevant. They know what's best and if you disagree, they will fine, jail or put you out of business.
Tyranny knows no bounds. Let's say that the FDA orders Stouffer's to no longer put 970 mg of sodium in their roasted turkey dinner; they mandate a maximum of 400 mg. Suppose Stouffer's customers, assuming they continue buying the product, add more salt -- what will the FDA do? The answer is easy. They will copy the successful anti-tobacco zealot template. They might start out with warning labels on salt. Congress will levy confiscatory taxes on salt. Maybe lawsuits will be brought against salt companies. State and local agencies might deny child adoption rights to couples found using too much salt. Before a couple can adopt a baby, they would have to take a blood test to determine their dietary habits. Teachers might ask schoolchildren to report their parents for adding salt to their meals. You might say, "Williams, they'd never go that far in the name of health." In 1960, you might have said the same thing about tobacco zealots but yet they've done the same and more.
The late H.L. Mencken's description of health care professionals in his day is just as appropriate for many of today's: "A certain section of medical opinion, in late years, has succumbed to the messianic delusion. Its spokesmen are not content to deal with the patients who come to them for advice; they conceive it to be their duty to force their advice upon everyone, including especially those who don't want it. That duty is purely imaginary. It is born of vanity, not of public spirit. The impulse behind it is not altruism, but a mere yearning to run things."
Thomas Jefferson put it simpler in his Notes on Religion in 1776, "Laws provide against injury from others, but not from ourselves."
If you give a progressive an inch they will always take a mile.
If Walter had been paying attention, he might have had a chance to cut it off at the anti-drug zealot stage.
They came for my tobacco..no real harm.
They came for my salt...better for me.
They came for my bagel and cream cheese...lower my LDL.
They came for my soda...not good for me.
They came for my sugar...bad for me.
They came for my hamburger with onion.....not healthy
They came for my ice cream....really not good.
They came for my red meat...I’ll be better off.
They came for my cheese pizza....I’ll be healthier.
Finally they came to see while I still had a smile and took that, too.
Don’t laugh, they also forced us into tiny deathmobiles, didn’t they?
They are our enemies. To regain our country the enemies must be destroyed.
Most are women who are otherwise unemployable. Back to the kitchen, bare foot , pregnant and gagged
Demolition Man: 1994 Sylvester Stallone in the future 2030
Stallone: Hey, pass the salt...
Bullock: Sorry, salt is one of the things that is bad for you, and thus illegal...
One of the channels has been playing this movie lately and
it’s vision of the future is coming true day by day...
Next thing you know, salt will be available at Walmart behind cashier #15 along with the smokes and the baby formula.
Yo, man, where y’all goin’? Y’all goin’ in that restaurant over there? Huh? Y’all got a reservation…or one a them uh…‘Call Ahead’ numbers or somethin’?
Hey…lissen…y’all got any “spice?”
Now y’all ain’t a cop or anything, huh? Naw…y’all ain’t no cop. No cop ever wore $500 shoes like them there. Pretty lady on the arm, too. How y’all doin’, Miss? Alright? Yeah, that’s good.
Now look here, y’all…a fancy couple deserve the finer things in life, dig? ‘specially when y’all be eatin’ in one a them upper class places here on the Ave. What y’all need is somethin’ that ain’t on the menu, right? A little party flavor? So look here…I can let y’all have some reg’lar NaCl for an even ten, right? Just wait ‘til the gar-sawn turn his back, and sprinkle it on y’all’s salad. We’re talkin’ big-time taste, yeah? An’ look here…a little more’ll getcha the fancy stuff, if y’all think y’all can handle it. Check it…I got Cypress Flake if y’all havin’ seafood, Himalayan – course and fine, I even got Alaea Hawaiian if y’all gettin’ somethin’ off the grill.
What’s that? You want Fleur De Sel de Camargue? Well well well. It sure is nice to meet a man what knows his salt. Y’all know that’s expensive, yeah? On account a it bein’ imported? Yeah… y’all know. Well y’all just got lucky, cuz I’m the only shaker this side the park what carries it. Y’all got the cash, I got the crystals. Y’all know what I’m sayin’? Let’s step over here out the way and see what kind a business we can work.
...even after all these years(Menken died in the 50s)it’s almost impossible to improve upon his descripton of the health care tyrants....if anything, they are more zealous than ever.
We’ve all agreed that the government has a say (sometimes severely so) in what we put into our bodies. It’s like the old joke: We already know what we are, now we’re just haggling over the details.
Women are unemployable? *Snort*
Yesterdays pot smoking, long haired draft dodging hippie is today’s elderly government working health nazi.
Gandhi started a Revolution when the Government overreached on salt...
Wait until they come after CHOCOLATE! it’s next. Nothing worse than hormonal women denied CHOCOLATE.
Are you a troll? Because you are doing a good job of making FR look bad.
I think you did not read the post. It referred specifically to radical non profit organization advocates, it did not refer to all women.
Sounds good.
Do not forget the Salt Tax.
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.