Overly Honest

OK. I really, really tried not to write about this. After all, who needs yet another opinion in the sea of insanity that this debate has become?

I’m failing miserably to stay out of it, however.

I’m flabbergasted that rational people would actually consider such a radical reduction in people’s civil liberties, simply to try to get them to be more healthy.

Let’s back up a step. For anyone who isn’t aware, Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposal would change the city’s administrative code, giving the health department the power to levy fines on most restaurants, movie theaters, food carts and delis that sell sugary soft drinks larger than 16 ounces in NYC.

Here’s the problem I have with that plan: not only will it not work, people will drink more in spite of the ridiculous regulation, effectively negating the intended result.

To be clear, I’m all for fighting the obesity epidemic in our country. I think it has completely and totally gotten out of hand and we are years away from fully realizing the true cost to our country from living this way. We should be walking more, sitting less, and eating better foods.

My solution, however, is to simply charge what we SHOULD for the f***ing food in the first place. I am reasonably sure that if it wasn’t so CHEAP to overeat, or eat poorly, that people would shape up and we would stop wasting so much food. If you can’t afford to overeat, you won’t.

Our diets and the food in our supermarkets is so subsidized that Americans have lost all perspective on the true cost of sustaining ourselves. We view organic, local foods as ‘too expensive’ when really those are completely reasonable compared to the taxes we pay to keep mass farmers and ranchers producing food that is worse for us. But, because we don’t see the checks personally, we don’t pay attention to it.

I’d like the REAL cost of food to be on every item we buy – regardless of what is being charged at the moment of purchase. Imagine the reality check if every person in the U.S. realized how much of their hard-earned tax dollars were going down the drain to provide food that goes to waste at every supermarket, especially in this economy, simply so we can keep our cultural ‘norm’ alive. This is the year to make a change – to STEP UP:

Variations of the farm bill over the years have helped make “Twinkies cheaper than carrots and Coca-Cola competitive with water,” Pollan wrote in the New York Times during the last debate over the farm bill, in 2007. The 2007 version of the farm bill expires in September. (From May 2012 Huffington Post article by Suzanne Merkelson)

If we want to target obesity, why not make the sugary, bad-for-you options MORE expensive instead of LESS?

No need to limit our civil liberties, just charge what we SHOULD for the cost of maintaining that ‘fat cat’ who indulges in those treats? Let the consequence match the crime!

So Mayor Bloomberg, please – don’t try to ‘fix stupid’ – just charge for it appropriately!