Some politicians and doctors may want to curb Americans’ consumption of sugar, fatty food and other junk. Americans who are willing to brave obesity, Type II diabetes, heart attack and stroke will have not of it. Don’t tread on them. The reaction will be a violent one.
The most high-profile effort to improve the food and drink consumption habits of Americans was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to limit the size of cups for sugary drinks. So far, he has been unsuccessful in getting his ban in place. In part that is because people do not want the ban. They want huge cups filled to the brim with Coke and Pepsi, no matter what it may cost them in health down the road.
A new Gallup poll on size limits for soft drinks finds:
Americans, by 69% to 30%, say they would vote against a law that limits the size of soft drinks and other sugary beverages served in restaurants to no more than 16 ounces.
The only flaw with the way the question was phrased is that the matter will never be put to a vote. It will be determined in the courts, which are likely to side with the freedom of drinking.
Gallup suggests that Americans resist the ban because they drink so much soda, and additionally the coffee that can be poured into large cups.
There are many possible reasons that seven in 10 Americans say they would vote against a law that would limit the size of soft drinks and other sugary beverages served in restaurants to no more than 16 ounces. To start with, soda and coffee — two beverages that could be subject to size limits under this proposal if they are sweetened — are very popular, with nearly half of Americans drinking soda and two-thirds drinking coffee each day.That conclusion is flawed. Americans see the ban on large cups are one of their last real freedoms. They already cannot speed on highways, drink alcohol in public, or swear at policemen. What else is left? Aside from the freedom to put pants on one leg at a time, there is little more than the size of the cups that they drink their drinks out of.
However, the resistance is well beyond that. Americans live in a society in which they cannot exceed the speed limit, text while driving, consume alcohol in public or swear at police officers. That leaves them with the freedom to put on their own pants, one leg at a time, and drink soda out of whatever cups they please.
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