Ronald McDonald is under attack.
Corporate Accountability International – a watchdog group – wants McDonald’s to stop marketing junk food to kids. It also wants Ronald, the clown McDonald’s has used for decades in its advertising campaigns, to retire.
Whether or not Ronald promotes unhealthy food isn’t the real issue. The issue is personal rights and responsibilities. Corporate Accountability has absolutely no right to impose its views on our lives.
Watchdog groups often forget that America grew out of the pursuit of personal freedoms. We the People have a right to pursue our own version of life, liberty and happiness.
Corporate Accountability International – a watchdog group – wants McDonald’s to stop marketing junk food to kids. It also wants Ronald, the clown McDonald’s has used for decades in its advertising campaigns, to retire.
Whether or not Ronald promotes unhealthy food isn’t the real issue. The issue is personal rights and responsibilities. Corporate Accountability has absolutely no right to impose its views on our lives.
Watchdog groups often forget that America grew out of the pursuit of personal freedoms. We the People have a right to pursue our own version of life, liberty and happiness.
Liberty is the defining attribute of America. And yet, we kneel and unquestioningly accept the authority of the Nanny State – paying any tribute it demands and obeying all its edicts just because they come wrapped in an American flag.
Look no further than the inappropriately named PATRIOT Act, which hastily became law in the aftermath of 9/11. It gave the government sweeping authority to spy on individuals inside the United States.
Bob Bauman called it the “greatest single assault on personal and financial privacy in U.S. history.”
And yet, it’s a gross demonstration of just how far we are willing to go to surrender liberty and privacy.
But it doesn’t stop there.
More Signs that a Quasi-Police State Is
Taking Shape Here in America
The Nanny State recently threw a fit over dairy.
School officials in Washington, DC, and Fairfax, VA, both recently removed chocolate milk from their menus. They believe that it has too much high-fructose corn syrup and, therefore, is detrimental to the health of children.
Lost in this process is any common sense on the part of the Nannies.
(They also removed table salt, chicken nuggets, corn dogs and syrup for pancakes.)
As a mother, what a child does – or does not consume – is a parental issue. I am not sure when the state got a say in the matter. Of course, there are many examples of public officials stepping into our lives to impose their dictates.
In Arizona, officials want to impose a $50 a year fee on obese Medicaid recipients who don’t follow a doctor’s plan to slim down. It’s comical to think the equivalent of 14 cents a day is really going to incentivize a lifestyle change.
Congress has debated a tax on fast food and sugary soft drinks. And New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in recent years has launched campaigns against salt, trans fat and excess calories in restaurant meals.
I’m not saying the pursuit of a healthier lifestyle is wrong. And I understand government’s desire to offset the expenses of an unhealthy lifestyle by recouping some of the costs incurred by America’s heavy eaters, drug users and smokers – and now, chocolate-milk drinkers.
But fundamentally, we have a right to eat, drink and smoke all that we want, so long as those habits don’t infringe on the rights, freedoms and wallets of others.
Yet that’s exactly what a government-controlled healthcare system does. It imposes upon all of us the costs of caring for those who choose not to care for themselves. And it does little to help those who truly do not have the capacity to take care of themselves.
If you choose to down a 12-pack of Coors Light every night, you have that freedom as a sovereign individual … just as I have the right not to pick up the medical costs for your dialysis when your liver fails.
Unfortunately, America’s system does not promote self-reliance … it promotes reliance on government, at the expense of the governed.
And it gets worse … the government has come up with a way to use the tax system to limit our freedom of movement.
A recent report released by the Government Accountability Office claims the IRS could collect billions in owed taxes by blocking delinquent Americans from getting or using U.S. passports until they settle their alleged IRS debts.
Bob Bauman explains, “The GAO found that in fiscal 2008, Americans who received passports owed a collective $5.8 billion to the IRS and could owe much more, since that estimate only factored in one year’s worth of passport recipients.”
While less than 30% of Americans have passports, this is another sign that a quasi-police state is taking shape in America.
School officials in Washington, DC, and Fairfax, VA, both recently removed chocolate milk from their menus. They believe that it has too much high-fructose corn syrup and, therefore, is detrimental to the health of children.
Lost in this process is any common sense on the part of the Nannies.
(They also removed table salt, chicken nuggets, corn dogs and syrup for pancakes.)
As a mother, what a child does – or does not consume – is a parental issue. I am not sure when the state got a say in the matter. Of course, there are many examples of public officials stepping into our lives to impose their dictates.
In Arizona, officials want to impose a $50 a year fee on obese Medicaid recipients who don’t follow a doctor’s plan to slim down. It’s comical to think the equivalent of 14 cents a day is really going to incentivize a lifestyle change.
Congress has debated a tax on fast food and sugary soft drinks. And New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg in recent years has launched campaigns against salt, trans fat and excess calories in restaurant meals.
I’m not saying the pursuit of a healthier lifestyle is wrong. And I understand government’s desire to offset the expenses of an unhealthy lifestyle by recouping some of the costs incurred by America’s heavy eaters, drug users and smokers – and now, chocolate-milk drinkers.
But fundamentally, we have a right to eat, drink and smoke all that we want, so long as those habits don’t infringe on the rights, freedoms and wallets of others.
Yet that’s exactly what a government-controlled healthcare system does. It imposes upon all of us the costs of caring for those who choose not to care for themselves. And it does little to help those who truly do not have the capacity to take care of themselves.
If you choose to down a 12-pack of Coors Light every night, you have that freedom as a sovereign individual … just as I have the right not to pick up the medical costs for your dialysis when your liver fails.
Unfortunately, America’s system does not promote self-reliance … it promotes reliance on government, at the expense of the governed.
And it gets worse … the government has come up with a way to use the tax system to limit our freedom of movement.
A recent report released by the Government Accountability Office claims the IRS could collect billions in owed taxes by blocking delinquent Americans from getting or using U.S. passports until they settle their alleged IRS debts.
Bob Bauman explains, “The GAO found that in fiscal 2008, Americans who received passports owed a collective $5.8 billion to the IRS and could owe much more, since that estimate only factored in one year’s worth of passport recipients.”
While less than 30% of Americans have passports, this is another sign that a quasi-police state is taking shape in America.
Time for Reflection and Vigilance
We frequently speak of freedom and liberty … often in terms of very real threats posed to both these precious commodities.
To observe that many have died for the American cause over the centuries accentuates the meaning and importance of the cause for which they gave their "last full measure of devotion," as Lincoln said.
Guard against the destruction of our rights and freedoms – whether the threat is from abroad or from within – to ensure that they did not die in vain.
To observe that many have died for the American cause over the centuries accentuates the meaning and importance of the cause for which they gave their "last full measure of devotion," as Lincoln said.
Guard against the destruction of our rights and freedoms – whether the threat is from abroad or from within – to ensure that they did not die in vain.
