A big-city mayor is blazing new trails in his war on obesity.
The nanny state is on the march, and nowhere is its take-charge approach on greater display than in New York City.
That's where the Big Apple's head nanny, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has issued a ground-breaking edict that he hopes will change his overweight moral inferiors for the better.
Bloomberg announced this week that he plans to try to limit how much sugary drinks, like sweetened ice tea or soft drinks, New Yorkers can consume when they go out to a restaurant or movie theater or patronize a street vendor.
Per the mayor's orders, the sale of a sugary drink in a container larger than 16 ounces will be strictly prohibited. Bloomberg indicated that he's grown tired of asking people who are overweight to do something about their excessive consumption of food and drinks and has decided to lay down the law.
"We've got to do something," Bloomberg said, indicating that limiting the size of drink sales is a good start.
"We're not taking away anybody's right to do things. We're simply forcing you to understand that you have to make a conscious decision to go from one cup to another cup," he lectured.
Bloomberg is, of course, correct that obesity is a growing health problem in this country, and that more moderate consumption is one — and just one — solution to shedding unneeded pounds.
But, really, is there anyone outside of New York City's autocratic mayor who believes this kind of arbitrary limit on cup size will solve anything?
Further, if Bloomberg's decision is a good idea, what comes next?
How about forced health club memberships? Being forced at gunpoint to walk on a treadmill? The possibilities are limited only by Nanny Bloomberg's imagination.
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