Black Helicopters and the Golden Arches

I found these articles yesterday in Reason about the government’s ongoing war with fat. Interesting stuff, but many of them are nothing more than libertarian knee-jerk reactions that do nothing more than take a stance against the government just because it’s the government. For example:

The belief that things like fat and sugar and salt aren’t really bad for us. On the surface, I agree, but only if you eat them in moderation. Eating a Big Mac a day isn’t really moderation. The stance Reason takes? Let the fast food folks do what they want, and let the people be responsible for what they eat. If we have a nation of fat people, so be it. It’s their own damn fault. Several of the articles also site scientific studies that show that fat is really bad for people, and the government has decided to fight an enemy that doesn’t exist. In fact, the war on fat is compared to the war on tobacco.

Here’s where I can’t stand the positions the magazine takes, namely that the market doesn’t count when they say people have to take responsbility for their actions. That is their guiding principle for both issues….fat people wouldn’t be fat if they didn’t eat so much, and people dying of lung cancer should have realised that smoking was bad for them. I don’t have a problem with that. People should take responsibility for their actions. But where is the call for responsibility for the manufacturers? No where is anyone saying the manufacturers are responsible as well. I’m as much of a capitalist as the next guy, but why isn’t the market subject to the same criticisms of the consumer? I am not a supporter of the tobacco settlement, and I’m not a fan of the government getting too heavily involved in the markets, but the stance Reason takes is unacceptable–the market and its players are just as responsible as the consumers.