Cut the Fatties

One of the goals of the left-wing agenda is to end the idea of personal responsibility. The doctrine of personal responsibility restrains government action for if people are the cause of their own problems then it is up to them to fix them not the taxpayers.

But the left-wing doesn't want to restrain government it wants to expand it to create an ever more intrusive nanny-state that controls our lives. They want government to direct people. One of the ways of doing this is raising taxes on goods the nanny-state lovers dislike. Higher taxes on goods would direct people to buy something else, thus an indirect way to control behavior.

The current proposal the Democratic Congress is considering is a 10% on "fattening foods." Congress looks out and sees an American where 1/3 of the people are obese. But that's not all. Because of government-run programs like Medicare and Medicaid, half of the costs of obesity are borne by the taxpayers. Thus Congress' reasoning is that a tax is justified because it will cover the cost of paying for the obesity-coverage of the people who are excessively consuming such foods. That makes sense if we do not accept the doctrine of self-reliance. After all, Congress' proposal seems reasonable at first.

But it isn't. Why should taxpayers be covering the cost of people with self-inflicted health problems. I would find a debate on whether people born blind should have medical costs covered reasonable, but the idea that someone who consumes fattening foods consistently and then doesn't work out should have their health care costs covered is beyond the pale.

People are responsible for their actions. If they want to eat themselves into a miserable life, that is their choice and no one should have to pay for it.

What Congress is doing is unfair and shielding irresponsible people from the consequences of their actions. Congress wants to make all of us pay for the behavior of the self-inflicted, irresponsible few. We already pay in income taxes to cover their medical cost and now Congress wants us to pay whenever we pay a candy bar or coke...of course when "we" but it is in infrequent as it should be. Thus healthy people who enjoy an occasional candy bar now have to pay more because other people without self-control have an entitlement to getting their obesity-coverage paid for by the government.

Congress should raise no taxes; instead it should stripe away all the coverage for people with obesity-related illnesses. It is time to cut the fatties.

obese baby wFlrR 19672

Obese babies may be an exception because it is not their fault but their parents for stupidly feeding them portions for 4 people.