OREM, UT | 11 August 2008 | The state of California is often referred to as a national trend setter in regards to many things, politics, fashion, entertainment, etc. Well…let’s see what ideas might be coming our way soon.One section of Los Angeles has a slightly higher than average number of obese people, roughly 30% of the population compared to 20% nationally. This fat—I mean huge—no, I mean fat—epidemic that threatens the safety and peace of Los Angeles has led the city council to take action. Councilwoman Jan Perry has started an initiative that she hopes will save the helpless citizens of South L.A. from having to live the tortured life of someone who doesn’t look good in a bathing suit. She wishes to ban any new fast food restaurants from opening in a 32 square mile area. This particular area of the city already has over 400 fast food establishments, and very few grocery stores and sit-down restaurants. The moratorium can last up to two years and is designed to give the city time to figure out a better solution. The hope is that by banning fast food businesses other restaurants and grocery businesses will be attracted to the area and thus, naturally, making the citizens healthier.

Key Points

• When a government uses force of law trying to entice new business into an area by restricting other businesses in that area, it demonstrates that it has no problem regulating, restricting, and violating the rights of citizens who move into the given area.

• The law is written with subjective definitions, thus taking on an arbitrary air, which can lead to favors, corruption, and graft.

• No matter how it tries, government cannot legislate skinny, healthy citizens into existence.

• It is not the responsibility of the government to dictate eating habits.

• The free market solution for healthier food is a much better idea, as we have seen fast food chains adapt their menus to accommodate those seeking healthier alternatives.

• Profit is the tool of validation, therefore the fact that there are many fast food restaurants that are profitable, obviously validates their existence, if other types of food service establishments would be profitable in that section of the city, then they too would probably exist.

Conclusion

Certainly eating healthy and exercising are beneficial for our bodies, but it is a very scary thing to see the liberty and the rights of the people trampled on by the government in a completely ridiculous attempt to force health upon the citizens. It is our right as citizens of the United States to decide for ourselves the level of health that we prefer. The only way that people will be happy and healthy is by their own free will, not by adhering to some strange new law. Let’s hope that the law makers in California will soon wake up form this corrupt, poisonous dream that the non-thinkers in the rest of the country seem so quick to idolize.

Further, we have already witnessed the free market creating a much more realistic solution to the apparent obesity problem. Fast food restaurants have begun to offer a much healthier menu, offering fruit instead of fries, milk and juice instead of soda, and salads instead of burgers. Isn’t it incredible that without any type of law being passed these businesses have responded to the market and have found additional ways to create value for their customers? Also we have seen many new healthier fast food businesses spring up in competition to the traditional burger joint. By allowing this competition to happen, rather than allowing government to stifle it to maintain the status quo, the citizens of L.A. will be free to choose whatever type of food and eating habits they desire, which by the way, is one of the many benefits of living under the protection of the Constitution.

Action Items

1. Attend your local city council meetings and become aware of proposed actions, and make sure that your voice and position is heard.
2. Decide what your health and food preferences are, and then use your dollars to vote for them.
3. Read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and see what this type of thinking will ultimately lead to.
4. Help others around you turn their brain on by having discussions with them regarding liberty and rights.
5. Create a blog or website and regularly post your feelings about liberty and individual rights.
6. Become familiar with the Constitution and Principles of Prosperity so that you can easily articulate the ideas of liberty and freedom when having discussions with others.
7. Join the FreeCapitalist Project and invite others to join, so that our efforts to preserve freedom can be organized and effective.

Principles that apply: (9, 11)

Resources:

Tami Abdollah, A strict order for fast food, Los Angeles Times, September 10, 2007.

Molly Hennessy-Fisk and David Zahniser, Council bans new fast food outlets in South L.A., Los Angeles Times, July 30, 2008.