Teacher Says

From Politico:

First lady Michelle Obama had tough words for grocery manufacturers Tuesday, telling them to “step it up” in their efforts to provide healthier foods to children and curb obesity.

At a conference at Washington’s Grand Hyatt Hotel, Obama talked about her own efforts on the childhood obesity front, explaining that her goal was to “finally make this national public health threat a national priority.”

“I’m here today to urge all of you to move faster and to go farther, because the truth is we don’t have a moment to waste,” she said in a 20-minute address. “So, we need you all to step it up.”

No one is a fan of childhood obesity. In fact, this story from Scientific American discusses a possible link between food stamps and obesity...anyone surprised? Think about that for a minute: food stamps, ostensibly issued to combat poverty, i.e., not having sufficient food and/or other essentials, are linked to people eating too much. But in the grand scheme of things, who is Michelle Obama to be lecturing this and that segment of society? Tune her out. (Remember, this is the woman who, on two different occasions during the campaign, asserted that this was the first time in her life that she was proud of her country. Of course, we're to believe she misspoke. That's not what she really meant. Sure. Whose church did she and her husband belong to for twenty years, by the way? Jeremiah something...right?)

If the Orwellian (or Huxleyian) pooh-bahs of this Administration decree that childhood obesity is a "national public health threat", what will stop them from passing a law, or laws, out of feigned concern and even through appeals to national security, that result in dictating what and where we can eat, what restaurants can serve, or what food companies can produce? The answer: nothing.

There's a better way to fight obesity. We could start by severing the bond once and for all between our paternalistic government and those ensnarled by its alluring entitlements. Then, we'll begin to teach the newly liberated masses a little something about self-reliance and self-respect, two qualities which the left in America, for about forty years and running, has worked feverishly to snuff out.

In the end, all parties would be better off, except the government.