Tax on Fast Food

[sujane]

I just heard something on the radio this morning - an organized group of doctors and physicians is petitioning the government to add a tax to fast food to "help promote better health".

Thanks big brother, but I assumed that I was responsible for my own health ever since I turned 12, and I already pay too much in taxes for our so-called "free" health system.

[Kat]

Another sin tax, huh? We have had a "litter tax" in Chicago for a few years which is a tax on carry out food and beverages. Things went downhill from there as you can see in my little rant on Chicago Politicians and their stupid laws.

The weird thing is that all these sin taxes and nanny laws are coming from the liberals, not the conservatives! Tibor Machan wrote an interesting article about this a while back called Modern Liberalism's Central Flaw.

Kat

[Victor Pross]

Canada...I want out of here. I would like to become an American--I am an American...in spirit.

[CNA]

Canada...I want out of here. I would like to become an American--I am an American...in spirit.

Hopefully one day soon, Honey, we'll be together. :hug: You'll become an American or me a Canadian.

[Paul Mawdsley]

I don't know if our American friends will get the commercial association but:

Hands in your pocket,

Hands in your pocket,

Hands in your pocket....

I can't help but think of Francisco's speech on the meaning of money when I see the government with their hands in my pocket. It's not just my money they are taking but my time, my energy, and the products of my mind. These days, every time I spend my money on something I visualize the time, energy, and mental effort that went into producing it, think in terms of what I can no longer use it for when I spend it, and imagine what time, energy, and mental effort will be required to replace it. It is especially the time energy and mental effort required to replace the money that I spend today which has been catching my attention recently. The cost of this is my freedom to do other things in life that I find personally fulfilling like spending time with my family, or friends, or practising my writing. When the government puts their hands in my pocket, this is what they are stealing.

Paul

[Victor Pross]

"Hopefully one day soon, Honey, we'll be together. :hug: You'll become an American or me a Canadian."

We will be together, my love, wherever we decide to live—we will be together. That’s all that matters. Hey, we don’t want to be accused of being Platonists, so we better get together!

[Chris Grieb]

There is a big link of the progressives (modern liberials) to the Nanny State. Progressives supported prohibation. They always want to improve people in the worst way. Thus they are leadings opponents of smoking and now fast food.

[Paul Mawdsley]

It all comes down to the implicit view of human nature that underlies the ethics, or the politics, or the philosophy. Modern liberals seem to see human nature as primarily reactive. They imagine individual behaviour as being socially determined. The individual is a conduit for the expression of the principles of the culture. Much like ideas of quantum field theory, the field (or culture) as a whole affects the actions of the individual particle (or person). As such, it is considered appropriate to create policies that shape the field (or culture) which, in turn, affect the behaviour of the particles (or individuals) in ways that determine right action. While there is validity in the causal processes behind this thinking, it misses the key element of volition and self-responsibility. We are not just entities who's behaviour is shaped by our social field. We are entities who's behaviour is shaped by our evaluations, inventions (creations of new connections about the nature of the reality before us and the best course of action), reevaluations, and reinventions. We have the ability to create new action alternatives, evaluate them, and set them in motion. This separates us from the necessitation of social determinism and demands physical freedom for us to choose right action.

The conservatives are no better. They recognize the existence of volition in consciousness but claim that human nature cannot choose the right action alternatives by itself in the moral realm. Ultimately, the choice is between good and evil actions of consciousness. In the service of God, it is the state's role to encourage good actions and punish evil actions. They view individuals as being more like the billiard ball model of action. Actions of individuals are not determined by their connection to the social field. They are determined by the internal actions of their consciousness, acting and interacting with their physical and social world (one set of collisions at a time). It is assumed that without the right programming from God and/or the state, individuals would not be able to assess the right path because they would have no standard of right and wrong. But we do. Our own lives and our own nature is that standard. Observation and reason, not revelation and faith, are the means to knowing this standard. We have the ability to discover our own standards, evaluate them, and apply them to our moral judgements. This separates us from the necessity of social authoritarianism and demands psychological freedom for us to discover the nature of our own standards.

Both conservatives and liberals want to take away our freedoms because their views are based on bad or incomplete causation. Ayn Rand got it right. The only legitimate role for government is to protect the rights and freedoms of its citizens. Anything else would be a destructive influence in the development and activities of individuals.

Paul

[Danneskjold]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men

People seem to forget that last sentence there. Government isn't there to protect us, it is there to protect our rights. Protecting our rights is the easiest way to protect us. So let's have all the big macs we want. Obesity is still healthier than fascism.

Edited November 26, 2006 by Danneskjold