Should the American government have any say in what I do to my body?
I can put myself in danger by joining the Army and the government doesn’t care. But suddenly the government cares when I want to eat something unhealthy or drink a large soda. The government shouldn’t be able to tell me what I can and can’t eat. We live in the United States, the land of the free. This nation was founded on the principle of the pursuit of happiness, not the pursuit of healthiness.

The U.S. government has been trying to get people to eat healthier by making laws that require restaurants to post the calories directly on the main menu. But when most people go to order, they don’t even notice that the calories are posted and most don’t care. Another clear example of why the government shouldn’t regulate what we eat is because other countries have tried fat taxes. The problem with these laws is that they were repealed within a year of being a law, because they simply didn’t work. Another example is mayor Bloomberg’s ban on large sodas, which when taken to court was found to have overstepped the health board’s authority.The government shouldn’t do anything but let us eat whatever we want. What we do to our bodies is our choice and we, not the government, will have to pay for it in the end.

Furthermore, by trying to impose these regulations on companies, the government will also cause companies to be forced to lay off employees or take them off of full time because the companies won’t be able to afford to give all the health insurance that the new law requires. So while the government may think they are helping us, in reality, they are hurting job creation and therefore the economy as well.

Then you get to Michelle Obama’s plan to end childhood obesity. Yes you can make school lunches healthier, but that is it. You can’t tell a parent what they can and can’t feed their children. All of that is completely up to the parents, as children are parents’ responsibility and parents have the right to raise their child however you want. In reality all the government can really do is suggest to parents what they should or shouldn’t feed their children. Many people don’t want to listen to the government tell them how to raise their children. On top of that, Michelle is even being hypocritical; While she is very fit and athletic, she doesn’t eat healthy. While in fact, President Obama has even said Michelle eats plenty of junk food, the complete opposite of what she is trying to get children to do.

The government should not be able to tell me what I can and can’t eat. Any government that has tried to regulate the consumption of unhealthy food has repealed the law within a year because people would still buy those foods anyways. This nation was founded on the pursuit of happiness and government telling me what I can’t eat is not the pursuit of happiness, it’s the pursuit of healthiness.