Nanny Knows Best: Killer Vegetables

Sometimes when I read Nanny Knows Best, I can't decide whether I'm reading the sequel to George Orwell's 1984 or visiting the future of America if our Progressive Brethren and Cistern take power.

For example: now it is being seriously bruited about that the British Government should fine restaurants for serving out-of-season (read, "imported") produce.

The source of this ingenious idea (and the individual who is lobbying Prime Minister Harold Brown for its adoption) is none other than Chef Gordon Ramsay of Hell's Kitchen.

The Orwellian logic behind this idea is that it would cause restaurants to rely on local produce, which would have a smaller carbon footprint because it would not have to be transported as far as, say, bananas from Guatemala.

Unfortunately, this idea is already percolating just beneath the surface right here in the USA, where--for example--Progressive guru George Lakoff intends his healthy foods "strategic initiative" to employ the coercive power of the State to achieve exactly the same end:

Government could have an enormous impact in reducing the cost of and increasing access to healthy, locally grown, organic, and sustainable foods. (From Thinking Points, Chapter Seven)

This sort of thinking--even more disturbingly--has penetrated far down the . . . food chain (sorry!) . . . of progressive/liberal thought, as witness this recent comment by von Cracker at Delawareliberal:

Increase the gas tax - change the paradigm. . . .

not saying that Obama needs to do this, obviously it’s a campaign killer, but it does need to be done.

Force people to drive less, investors will move towards mass transportation, citizens will start buying local foods…etc…

When I respond:

And although I will grant you Hillary’s overt pandering (not that she is unique among current prez wannabes in that regard), it is vC’s comment that reminds me why I’m a Libertarian. . . .

He wants to increase gas taxes to “change the paradigm” and “Force people to drive less, investors will move towards mass transportation, citizens will start buying local foods…etc…”

I love the folks who constantly propose this sort of solution. Who cares about people who have jobs that require them to drive? Who cares about the people left with even more crippling fuel prices in places that mass transit isn’t going to happen for decades (if ever) even with massive government investment? Screw all of them: vC wants light rail and local milk (although still with Federal price supports one would assume), and so the idea of using the government’s power to “force” (his word, not mine) people to fall into line with his political ideas is palatable.

What was funny was how quickly vC wanted to back away from that word force. Not from the policies being advocated, but from the word itself:

Sorry that I didn’t say it’s a long-term approach, understandable since we all so used to instant gratification. And not to get into your semantics game, but the correct word would be “influence”. Feel better now?

No, as a matter of fact, I didn't.

Influence backed up by the tax code, fines, regulations, and the full apparatus of government is not only force, but when it's done with the deliberate Orwellian intent to portray it as something else--something healthful and so good for you that you'd just be a spoilsport to say no--that's not just force, it's mind-controlling authoritarian Statism run amuck.

Which is worse than an episode of Hell's Kitchen, because once you turn it on, you won't be able to turn it off.

Comment Rescue (?) and child-related gun violence in Delaware

In my post about the idiotic over-reaction to a New Jersey 10-year-old posing with his new squirrel rifle , Dana Garrett left me this response: One waits, apparently in vain, for you to post the annual rates of children who either shoot themselves or someone else with a gun. But then you Libertarians are notoriously ambivalent to and silent about data and facts and would rather talk abstract principles and fear monger (like the government will confiscate your guns). It doesn't require any degree of subtlety to see why you are data and fact adverse. The facts indicate we have a crisis with gun violence and accidents in the USA, and Libertarians offer nothing credible to address it. Lives, even the lives of children, get sacrificed to the fetishism of liberty. That's intellectual cowardice. OK, Dana, let's talk facts. According to the Children's Defense Fund , which is itself only querying the CDCP data base, fewer than 10 children/teens were killed per year in Delaw

The Obligatory Libertarian Tax Day Post

The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?

New Warfare: I started my posts with a discussion.....

.....on Unrestricted warfare . The US Air force Institute for National Security Studies have developed a reasonable systems approach to deter non-state violent actors who they label as NSVA's. It is an exceptionally important report if we want to deter violent extremism and other potential violent actors that could threaten this nation and its security. It is THE report our political officials should be listening to to shape policy so that we do not become excessive in using force against those who do not agree with policy and dispute it with reason and normal non-violent civil disobedience. This report, should be carefully read by everyone really concerned with protecting civil liberties while deterring violent terrorism and I recommend if you are a professional you send your recommendations via e-mail at the link above so that either 1.) additional safeguards to civil liberties are included, or 2.) additional viable strategies can be used. Finally, one can only hope that politici

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