Restrictions | Teen Ink

Restrictions

December 16, 2013
By riley herzog SILVER, Delafield, Wisconsin
riley herzog SILVER, Delafield, Wisconsin
7 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Restrictions
The will to do what we please allows us to be our own person and to control our life. And eating what we want falls under that. Eating Provides a source of energy, a hobby, and happiness, so why put restrictions on it?
It’s not the government’s job to keep people healthy. Many things have been taken away from us or restricted. Food restrictions seem ridiculous because food is harmless. For example, there is no restriction to the amount of cigarettes or tobacco products purchased at one time, but there is on the cup size of a soda, says John Stossel in “Myths, Lies and Complete Stupidity.” Tobacco use causes more than five million deaths per year, but soda has only caused one death. And this happened to a consumer who drank over 2.5 gallons a day. Two and a half gallons! Where was the government when this girl died? They were doing what they are supposed to do—giving people the right to do what they want. It wasn’t their job or duty to help this girl. Even if the government prevented any cup over 16 ounces from being sold, consumers could walk to their local grocery store or gas station and purchase a two-liter. The fact is this: the government can’t prevent people from eating what they want.
Within the government, the DEA controls drugs, but even so, drugs exist and are illegally abused. But everyone is involved with food! How could the government regulate and control something that is worldwide necessity? The fact is this: they can’t. The time and money that it would take to make a regulation over the US that controls food would be unnecessary and stupid. Europe has attempted to do this before, by putting a fat tax on unhealthy foods, and failed. Our government, knowing of this failure, is still trying to do this and is trying to implement it into our system. So if this regulation to began, it would soon later fall apart.
So now because the government thinks the cup regulation isn’t enough, the government will go ahead and put higher taxes on food that is deemed worse for you. If this happens, there will be a worldwide upraise. Normally food that is worse for you is cheaper compared to organic, healthier food. People would buy organic food if they had the money, but because they don’t, people are forced to purchase and consumer cheaper unhealthy food. And higher food taxes means food prices will be at an all time high. Many more people will go hungry and starve all because of a higher taxation. The government thinks by solving the problem of obesity, it won’t start any others but they are very mistaken!
All these problems will become a reality if the government goes through with these ridiculous actions: people will go against their government, fast food industries will suffer from the change in prices and people will have to find other sources of food. If they intervene on matters like food and drink, chaos will spread through our nation. It’s not the government’s job to keep us healthy. Obesity and eating foods we want is our choice and it’s the American right to govern ourselves and control what we eat or drink.



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