Posted by
Kenneth G. Davenport on Wednesday, July 30, 2008 7:47:16 PM
I saw a great bumper sticker the other day: "I'm For Higher Taxes: Vote Obama 08". It made me laugh. Most pro-Obama stickers I've seen are either on 60s-era VW bugs (right next to the flower-power symbol) or Toyota hybrids. This one was on a Ford F150 truck, which I suppose validates what demographers would predict. Only those gun-clinging, church-going red necks who drive big trucks would dare be against St. Obama, right?
Anyhow, the Democrats have more in store for you than just higher taxes and higher gas prices. They mean to control your lives in every conceivable way -- from forcing you to buy health insurance to telling you what you should and shouldn't eat. The leftist city councils of both San Francisco and Los Angeles have started a trend that will be coming to a Democrat-controlled Congress in your future. San Francisco has now banned the sale of cigarettes in pharmacies within the city limits, meaning that you can't by smokes when you are buying toilet paper, toothpaste or filling your prescriptions. Didn't you know? Smoking is bad for you, so San Francisco is telling you not just where and when you can light up, but where and when you can buy the cigarettes themselves. City leaders are hopeful that they can use this as a springboard for expanding the ban to include warehouse stores, supermarkets and other locations. Before long, you won't be able to buy a smoke anywhere within the city limits.
Los Angeles, meanwhile, has decided that there are too many fast-food restaurants in "low-income" areas, and has now passed a one year moratorium on new locations for the 32 square miles of South Los Angeles. It turns out there are a lot of fat people who live in South LA -- so the City Council has decided to put people on a forced diet. Nevermind the fact that the market dictates demand, and the people eat at these places because they are a cheaper alternative to more expensive fare. There are currently 400 fast-food joints in this area of Los Angeles. Why? Because people both like and can afford junk food. Unless you start paying people to eat at more healthful, expensive restaurants (shhh -- don't give them any ideas!) this won't create new alternatives. It will only mean few choices for the food people want to eat.
So, you can see a trend here, right? The left doesn't believe you are capable of making your own decisions on what you put into your body -- so they will make it for you. They will decide if you are too fat, and tell you what kind of restaurants can come into your neighborhood. They will tell you the smoking is dangerous to your health, and outlaw cigarettes. They will tell you what kind of car you should drive, and tax you if you dare resist. It's the nanny state at work.
Of course, it goes deeper than this. The left also thinks that driving harms the environment (and its dangerous, too) -- so they want the price of gas to go up so you won't be able to use your car as much as you do now. They use the threat of global warming as a cudgel with which to bludgeon people into making personal choices that are less convenient, cost more and lead to fewer individual freedoms. They are out to control your every waking moment -- not just from cradle to grave, but also from dawn to dusk.
Here's what my bumper sticker would read: "I Need A Nanny: Vote Obama '08"