Drawing the Line

Drawing the Line

Squint really hard and look towards the horizon behind you. Nope, a little to the right. There, see it? That’s where our government’s rights should have stopped. It’s barely visible now, but they aren’t looking back. Oh my, no, they are forging bravely ahead into the land of government control. And today’s example of our ever evaporating rights is the sure-to-pass bill that will empower the FDA to regulate the tobacco industry.

While many applaud this step towards further restricting cigarette companies’ rights, few lift the curtain to see the implications behind this action. In essence this bill gives the federal government the right to decide what is good for us as individuals. Not that they haven’t already been treading down this path with the drug laws and the patriot act, but this bill takes it one step further. Forget personal rights. The government is now in the business of protecting you from yourself.

With the approval of this bill, our congressmen have openly declared that they have the right to restrict anything that poses a substantial risk to one’s self, regardless of its level of impact on others; they have opened the flood gates to begin wrapping their tentacles around every facet of our lives. For example, Chipotle’s Chicken Burrito has 1,179 calories and 47 grams of fat. Frequent consumption of this is arguably more dangerous to our heath than a couple of cigarettes every now and then. Macaroni Grill’s Spaghetti and meatballs with meat sauce more than doubles that risk with a whopping 2,430 calories and 128 grams of fat… and note that neither of these dishes are served with a label clearly explaining the health risks involved with their consumption. What is to stop the government from restricting the production of those high calorie foods? It is no is no longer our right to be unhealthy. We might as well make chairs uncomfortable and add a high buzzing sound to the TV to encourage people to go outside and exercise. This Bill gives the government a blank check to sign away our individual rights on the basis of our so called protection.

At least our government is standing up to the tobacco lobbyists’ for once right? Wrrrooong. The only one’s this legislation WILL benefit is the tobacco industry. These new government regulations are sure stop or at least decrease the amount of money in law suit settlements the tobacco industry pays out each year which will more than make up for any loss in business due to advertisement and flavor restrictions. The tobacco industry knows damn well that it doesn’t need advertizing or flavoring to sell cigarettes. I don’t see crack addicts complaining about the lack of cherry flavoring in their crack and I can’t remember the last time I saw a magazine ad for meth but none of them seem to have any trouble drumming up business.

We are already spending billions of dollars each and every year in our futile battle against drugs. With the largest deficit the US has ever seen and the two wars we are currently funding, don’t you think we could find a better use of our time and money than cigarette restrictions?