EDUCATE, DON'T CONFISCATE

Ah, it's election day here in America. Although I promise not to turn this blog into a vitriolic political diatribe (for you youngsters, "a rage against the machine"), I thought that on this historic day I might offer up my opinion on a certain political climate. In this country,  there is a movement to regulate certain foods to battle the growing problem of obesity in the U.S. In New York they've already regulated salt and fried cherry pie (mmm, that sounds good) and recently I heard a story where a young boy's lunch, that he'd brought from home to school, was taken from him because his sandwich wasn't made with whole grain bread (or something to that effect). Please people, school is hard enough, let's not further traumatize the children.

With all due respect,  to whom I'm sure are well intentioned  politicians, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKIN' MINDS? Prohibition doesn't work. Take a lesson from history. It didn't stop alcohol abuse and it's not going to prevent obesity. In fact,  if you continue down this road America might just get even fatter, because we all know if you want people to do something, the fastest way to get them to do it is to tell them they can't. Do you want to create a snack-food black market? Do you want Americans buying "black market"  fried cherry pie made with outdated ingredients, smuggled into the country hidden in who knows what body parts, stored in who knows what dank, rat-ridden cellar out of the sight of the food police? Talk about unhealthy.

And let us not confuse "thin" with "healthy". I know plenty of thin people that spend many an hour in the doctor's office or hospital and conversely many people who might be considered obese that are otherwise healthy and exercise routinely. As the great Orson Welles once stated, "gluttony is not an anonymous vice" and is therefore an easy target. So I say to politicians, let us also not be hypocritical either, how many cigarettes do you smoke?, how many drinks a day do you have?, how many hours do you spend on congested, pollution filled highways on your daily commute to Washington?, how many amphetamines do you take to maintain your hectic work schedule and/or YOUR  weight? Just the mere fact that we are born means we are going to die. Living is a risky proposition and who are you to decide that my lifestyle is anymore "unhealthy" than yours? Judge not, lest you be judged!

So, how about we keep the police focused on murderers, rapist and thieves and you politicians concentrate on more important matters like creating jobs and stopping the growing problem of corruption in government and big business. How about getting on the same page with food manufacturers to come up with a system of guidelines that are  gender, age, height, and physical-activity specific,  instead of  "painting everyone with the same brush"? There is a lot of conflicting nutritional information and deceptive advertising out there that have Americans pretty confused. How about we regulate the information that is going out  so that we might educate ourselves properly and make our own choices. That's what America is all about, freedom to choose.

I am working hard to to educate myself so that I might maintain my weight, but sometimes I may want a fried cherry pie, so be warned, if you come into my home to take away my pie, you better come "heavy" 'cause I won't give it up without a fight. If you don't cease and desist this ridiculous behavior you'll  have Americans even more stressed out than they already are, and STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS. Coincidence? I think not!