Posted on 03/31/2002 11:31:40 AM PST by The Raven
By turning away from rule of law and constitutional government, Americans are following in the footsteps of the decent Germans, who during the 1920s and '30s built the Trojan Horse that enabled Hitler to take over.
The "For Your Own Good" Police Are Coming...After You
By Walter Williams (March 27, 2002)
[CAPITALISMMAGAZINE.COM] Most Americans were pleased with the legislative attack on cigarette smokers, not to mention confiscatory tobacco taxes. We reveled in the EPA's dishonest study concluding that second-hand smoke causes cancer. And, by the way, I'd like to hear whether the Food & Drug Administration would sanction pharmaceutical companies employing EPA's research methods to test drug safety -- and if not, why not?
The real reason for the attack on smokers is that many people are offended by the tobacco odor. Unfortunately, in their quest to eliminate tobacco fumes, Americans are willing to trade away constitutional principles and rule of law.
Tyrants are never satisfied. They've lined up new victims. Surgeon General David Satcher has provided them with ammunition by describing obesity as America's No. 1 killer, costing 300,000 lives annually. As a result of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses, it's costing us billions upon billions of health dollars. That means, according to John Banzhaf of George Washington University School of Law and other tyrants, America's food industry is to blame and liable. New York University Professor Marion Nestle agrees, saying that the food industry "can't behave like cigarette companies. ... Yet there's a lot of people who benefit from people being fat and sick, and the whole setup is designed to make people eat more. So the response to the food industry should be very similar to what happened with the tobacco companies."
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is one of the Washington lobbies that wants to control what we eat. These tyrants not only propose taxes on what they deem as non-nutritious foods, they've also proposed a 5 percent tax on new television sets and video equipment, and a $65 tax on each new car or an extra penny per gallon of gas. You might ask why tax these items? CSPI Nazis see watching television and videos, and riding instead of walking, as contributing to obesity. And, as they see it, just as tobacco companies were responsible for people smoking, television manufacturers are responsible for people being couch potatoes, automobile companies are responsible for people riding instead of walking and the food industry is responsible for people eating too much.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) has joined these tyrants. No reasonable person advocates drunk driving, but MADD has another agenda. It wishes to outlaw driving even after having one drink. It has successfully pushed Congress to lower the blood/alcohol level for a drunk-driving arrest to .08 percent. But its true agenda was revealed by Steve Simon, chairman of the Minnesota State DUI Task Force, when he said: "If .08 percent is good, ..05 percent is better. That's where we're headed. It doesn't mean that we should get there all at once. But ultimately it should be .02 percent."
That's the way Nazis work -- incrementally. If they had demanded Congress make the blood/alcohol .02, they wouldn't have gotten anything -- not even .08 percent. I wouldn't be surprised if their ultimate agenda is alcohol prohibition.
The Center for Consumer Freedom keeps up-to-date information on these and other tyrants. You might say, "What's the fuss, Williams? These people will never get away with controlling what we eat and drink!" Think again. In the '60s, when the anti-smoking zealots were simply asking for smoking and non-smoking sections on airplanes, no one would have ever anticipated today's tobacco taxes, laws and regulations.
Most evil done in the world is done in the name of promoting this or that good. By turning away from rule of law and constitutional government, Americans are following in the footsteps of the decent Germans, who during the 1920s and '30s built the Trojan Horse that enabled Hitler to take over.
I hadn't thought of that, but gee, you might be right. Many movements turn into caricatures of their original intentions, attracting not only believers, but also the power hungy. The enviro-nazi, femino-nazi, and Communism come immediately to mind.
The blood alcohol level is another such issue. MADD is just that if it wants to move the blood alcohol level bar lower than 0.08.
There are other good examples that Williams could have inserted here. National ID cards is a good one. Strip searches at airports is another.
There has to be limits to what the government can do. This last year I've seen most of them evaporate.
Smart men, Williams and Lewis.
Regards
J.R.
NY already has a soda pop tax. It's included in the price. They did it, but didn't tell the consumer- like the Gore tax on AT&T phone bills for school computers.
Hey folks, we're almost there -- By decree of Surgeon General of the U.S., look soon for the Skull and Crossbones to be marked on the food wrapping at all McDonalds, Burger King, and Wendy's, with their respective franchise owners' faces posted on John Walsh's 'America's Most Wanted.'
Soon we will all be slaves and there will be no need to give reparations to anyone.
I've always thought that HBO was the best example of the inconsistancy of the left. One one hand, they refuse to show card girls when they carry a boxing match, because it is "degrading to women." On the other hand, they had one special where an "artist" was taking photographs of a nude woman holding onto a horses penis. Yes, they showed her grabbing it. In another "true crime" series, they showed home movies taken by a criminal of an actual rape.
While the left attacks smoking and fatty foods, I wouldn't suggest trying to bring up the medical costs of sexually transmitted diseases, out of wedlock births, or homosexually transmitted diseases. Conduct leading to these costs has been deemed "good", and if you speak out against them, you are a member of the Taliban, a homophobe, and you probably have bad breath, because you inhale gas fumes and smoke unfiltered Camels while driving your SUV over baby ducks.
The power to tax is the power to destroy.
The message is very mixed, do not become overweight by putting fattening things in your body, but if you gain some pounds because of pregnancy, not to worry, we can take of that weight at any time up to and including infanticide.
Government is amoral. No matter how well meaning the law is, it it can still be used to immoral purposes, and the government will sanction it. You can't look to an amoral entity for moral guidance without getting ambiguous answers.
But the point of this fatty blather is lost. It's the nanny state that wants to control our behavior because it costs so much. My answer is for our fellows including me and my own to manage our own vices and the diseases that manifest from them.
The fried chickens of our socialist medical system have come home to clog our arteries. Sedentary Sundays will soon see a grease tax at Sizzler's. Well why not? Tax the beer, the pizza and tax Rush Limbaugh for every regained pound of lard he tries to hide.
My fellows are indeed fat and ugly too. But in my opinion ugly is much more acute in those who choose to register Democrat, so I say tax the Rats more for their hideous politics and impositions. And while were at it, tax those who profess a liberal point of view because it is a form of mental illness and costs us billions upon billions of Btus to fill the Sunday talk show with hot air while we vegetate with a lost moronic look of emptyheadedness.
Have a happy Catholic Easter and be sure to eat that fluffy marshmellow coconut partially hydrogenated chocolate bunny Yum-Yum.
Or maybe some sort of multi-billion dollar Drug War.
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.