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Proposed New Law Takes the Cake. Literally.
In recent years, many new laws have been proposed, and some passed, that are what I consider to be creeping nannyism in our society. That is, the government has been inappropriately intruding into the private behavior of adults that does not affect the rights of others.
But what I read most recently takes the cake. Literally.
In January, Mississippi House Representatives W. T. Mayhall, Jr., John Read, and Bobby Shows introduced HR 282, which would prohibit state-licensed food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese based on criteria prescribed by the Mississippi State Department of Health. That means anybody with a BMI of 30 or above won't be able to eat with everybody else.
As well as being blatant discrimination, it would restrict the rights to restaurants to do business and would put restaurant workers in the inappropriate position of having to determine the health status of potential customers, a role for which they would be grossly underqualified. Let's not even begin to address the fact that one's weight, either fat or thin, does not always accurately measure a person's health.
And what's next? Will smokers have to prove they don't have emphysema to buy a pack of smokes, and drinkers have to prove they are not alcoholics before buying a six-pack? And let's not forget, that while smokers and drinkers don't have to engage in those behaviors to survive, even fat people have to eat.
The government has no business acting in a parental role for adults who have not been judged to be mentally incompetent. In a free society, competent adults have the right and the responsibility to make decisions about their own health and that includes the right to make what many other people would consider to be the WRONG choice.
Thoughts?
I'll bet that the lawyers for the Dept of Health put the kibosh on this for
the very reasons you stated
Totally agree with you. It's ridiculous and unconstitutional. People have
the right to make their own mistakes as long as they're not hurting anybody
else.
I heard this on the radio early this morning and thought, "YOU HAVE GOT TO
BE KIDDING ME!?!" I'm thinking you won't be seeing or hearing the names
Mayhall, Read, and Shows in Mississippi politics much longer. I'm
surprised that that level of stupidity hasn't met with the law of survival
of the fittest long before this point.
A move to Canada sounds better and better.
pr mybe we can all get together and have some fund raisers so we can buy an
island of our own somewhere.
Why is it that more and more we are responsible for everyone's behavior
except our own?
