And what will they let the government do to us next?
By Judge Andrew Napolitano
What if a dictator in America used the force of law to tell you what to eat? What if the same dictator told you what to drink? What if the dictator told you the sizes of the containers in which you could purchase a lawful beverage? What if the dictator just made up the rules according to his own personal taste? What if the product he regulated was lawful, sold nearly everywhere and consumed by nearly everyone? What if that product came in flavors and degrees of sweetness the dictator didn't like? What if that product was part of a huge national market that provides choices to consumers and jobs for those who want them? What if that product was simple soda pop?
What if the dictator declared that you could consume all the
soda pop you wish to consume, but you need to purchase it in small
containers? What if the enforcement of this container-size rule
raised the price of soda pop? What if the container size was just
something the dictator dreamed up? What if the dictator believed
his judgment was superior to yours with respect to deciding what
you should drink and how you should drink it?
What if the dictator pretended his container-size restrictions
were based on sound science? What if he hired and appointed medical
personnel who feared for their jobs if they did not agree with him?
What if he ordered those people to support his container-size
regulations whether or not they agreed that this is the proper role
of government? What if he constituted these medical lackeys into a
Board of Health? What if the Board of Health pretended it seriously
studied the detrimental effect of sugar-based soda pop on human
beings but never did?
What if the rules for container size were written in secret?
What if those rules were so complicated that a judge concluded they
would be impossible to enforce? What if the rules only applied to
certain sugar-based drinks, such as soda pop and coffee, but not to
others, such as chocolate milk and alcohol? What if the rules only
applied to some stores and shops but not to all? What if the rules
were so ridiculous that in order to buy a cup of coffee larger than
16 ounces, they required you to put milk and flavoring and sugar in
yourself, and the seller of the coffee could not lawfully help you
or do so for you, even at your request?
What if under the fundamental law of the land the dictator was
not authorized by law to write laws but only to
enforce them? What if the dictator knew that the
governing body elected by the people to write laws would never
write the laws he wanted because its members like power and fear
losing it, which could happen if they try to tell the voters who
elected them how to live? What if the dictator never presented his
proposals on sugar-based drinks to the elected governing body
because he knew they'd be rejected?
What if the dictator was more interested in his own legacy as a
reformer than in personal liberty in a free society? What if he
believed he could write any law and regulate any event because his
knowledge of human behavior and unintended consequences was
superior to that of the people he swore to serve?
What if the same dictator once made campaign contributions to
members of the governing board so that they would change the
fundamental law of the land -- which only the people directly can
lawfully change -- so as to let the dictator stay in office longer
than the fundamental law permitted? What if that law could only be
changed by the voters themselves, but the dictator persuaded the
lawmakers to take his campaign cash and change the fundamental law
for him? What if the dictator was very unpopular but continued to
impose his will on the people because he desperately wanted a
legacy?
What if some people who sell soda pop challenged the dictator in
a court he did not control? What if a judge of that court told the
people they could buy soda and coffee in whatever sizes it was sold
because the dictator did not have the power to regulate their
intake of liquids? What if the judge even recognized that there are
areas of human behavior immune to regulation by the government?
What if all of this really happened? What if this is not a fable
but a fair recounting of life today in America's biggest city? What
is the state of human freedom in New York City when the mayor can
tell people what soft drinks to consume and how to consume them and
the voters let him do it? What will they let the government do to
us next?
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