Please Ponder

"Celebrate diversity with ruthless conformity."

When it's mandated by the government, it's not your choice

This morning, a local television station had a story on how healthier choices can reduce the chance of a person getting cancer. Sounds much like the other stories that have been reported for years.

Who doesn't appreciate the fact that eating better and working out will lead to a healthier life? A healthier life means you will be less likely to contract many diseases.

Yet, we are still a fat nation. We eat too much. We don't exercise enough.

This morning's story had a little bit different ending: government should take steps to cause people to make healthier choices.

Are we to the point where people can say, with a straight face, government should cause people to make "choices"? Government mandating behavior through policy seems to cut against the concept of people making "choices".

As we wonder down this path of more collective decisionmaking, paved with rhetoric of hope and change, I'm bracing for more instances where the government will empower better choices (i.e., coerce people to act differently).

Is it too obvious to say that liberty is on the decline?