The Boolean Peanut

A Soda Tax Ain't Got Our Backs

2009-09-18T17:51:00.007-04:00

Congress is now weighing in on the possibility of a soda or sugary drink tax to help pay for President Obama's health care plans, reduce national obesity and lower health costs across America.

They hope that by raising the cost of drinking a soda less Americans will partake of the sugary drink. And they're right, less Americans will buy and consume soda as a result of its higher price.

The Problems

As a matter of principle I should be allowed to drink a soda even if it does make me fat. There is no public health risk derived from my choice to drink a soda. Soda doesn't transmit communicable diseases or make me want to steal from my neighbor's garage for dope money.

Drinking too much soda might be stupid on a personal health level, but so is eating too much fast food, consuming too much cheese, drinking 3 cups of coffee a day, running a marathon without stretching or waving a dead salmon at a grizzly bear! Yet, there are no taxes on those behaviors? At least not yet...

The administration's reasoning for imposing this tax is very telling as well. They give two reasons:

To Help Pay For President Obama's Health Care Plans
To Reduce Health Care Costs By Reducing Obesity

First off, what class of Americans do you think consumes the most soda? Could it be the poor and middle class? I'm pretty sure it's not the caffeine habits of executive America that are keeping Coca Cola afloat these days. What happened to President Obama saying he wasn't going to raise taxes a single dime for Americans making less than $250k per year? He must have forgot to mention that his promise doesn't apply to people who smoke, consume alcohol, drink soda, drive an automobile, or relies on energy from "dirty" sources (coal, oil, etc...) or shop / work at businesses who do.

On the second point, there is something called the law of unintended consequences. It basically states that for any action a government entity, organization or individual performs there are always incalculable results. If the government decides to make soda with sugar in it an expensive product, companies & consumers alike will turn towards producing and consuming soda without sugar in it. It's called diet soda and it comes with all kinds of man-made sweeteners that are oh so wonderful for your health. Studies have shown that the artificial sweetener aspartame is linked to mood disorders, headaches, seizures, paradoxical effects on appetite, and... ready for this one?? Weight Gain! It seems to me that the administration hasn't thoroughly thought this one through quite yet.

And let us not forget the total hypocrisy of all of this. The politicians behind this scheme are actually admitting to some economic truths finally. That is, as a rule of any governing body, when something is taxed, whether it's a behavior or a physical product, it becomes more expensive and less abundant. Likewise, when something gets subsidized, it becomes cheaper and more abundant.

Like I said earlier, making soda more expensive will certainly reduce how much it is consumed just like anything that gets taxed. Tell me then why can't these politicians admit that taxing an individual's income has the same effect? If you tax a person or business for being productive, guess what you'll get less of... Production! But I digress...

The Solutions

If you ask me, we have two options in order to remain consistent on this issue. Either we:

Admit that it's our individual responsibility to make personal choices whether they're ill or otherwise (my personal favorite, it's called freedom).
Admit that it's the governments responsibility that we never make poor personal decisions ever again. As a result we have to regulate everything from overeating & coffee drinking to stretching before a jog & camping in grizzly country.

Whatever your choice is, contact your local representatives ASAP and let them know how to be consistent on this issue. If you've never done this before you can quickly locate your representatives online at VoteSmart.org

Americans Like Paying Taxes

2009-05-09T08:16:00.005-04:00

According to Colin Powell, Americans enjoy paying higher taxes for more government services in their lives. Clearly this must be true, that's why Mr. Obama ran his campaign on the premise of a TAX CUT for 95% of Americans. Hrmmmmm.... Why would Obama have to say this if Americans want to pay higher taxes for more government services in their lives?

It appears that the retired general is the first to hint at something most Americans just wanted to ignore during the election season: Obama's policies require higher taxes. Powell is just priming the pump, he's just trying to convince America that paying higher taxes is really a good thing because it's no different than paying for a good or service from another institution. Except here's the difference... You can choose not to buy from another institution, but if you choose not to buy the government services you become a criminal. What happens when you've taken away somebody's choice to not do something? You've destroyed their freedom and liberty.

On a side note, the gumption Powell has to use such an unscrupulous technique to convince Americans that high taxes and big government are good is amazing to me. He's actually resorted to telling me that all my friends are doing it so I should as well.

What about the services you're paying for, though? Well, you'll get great working programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Welfare. Oh, those programs are bankrupting us? Oh... who would have thought. And don't forget that you're also securing the paycheck of Colin Powell and his many government paid colleagues. It seems like Mr. Powell is just asking for a raise...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124173905445498599.html

Stop Stealing Money, Barney Frank

2009-05-08T08:37:00.007-04:00

Wow! For once I agree with Barney Frank; grown-ups should be able to do whatever they want so long as it doesn't infringe on my rights. So on the same principle I have a suggestion, per say, for Barney Frank regarding liberty and freedom...

Stop Stealing Money

If he really thinks that I should be able to do what I wish with my resources, time and energy then he would stop advocating the legal theft of trillions of dollars to pour into failed government experiments. This guy is such a hypocrite, I can't stand it.

On a side note, does Barney Frank remind anyone else of a slightly more articulate Don Vito?

We're All Gonna Die!!!

2009-04-30T20:46:00.006-04:00

Lock your doors! Shelter your children! Live in a bubble! But most of all, trust the Mighty Government to save you from the Swine Flu that is coming!!! If you don't believe me just look at what happened with the Bird Flu, West Nile Virus, SARS, and the Ebola Virus? Oh, that's right... Not a whole lot.

This whole thing stinks like government and media hype to make you think that they can save you from this nonsense. Just remember what one prominent member of our current administration said: Never let a crisis go to waste.Wag the dog folks.

http://www.fumento.com/weblog/

Please, Stop Changing Things

2009-04-27T16:21:00.005-04:00

I just found this great video. What gets me is why people are so willing to roll over and relinquish their rights to the government in the hopes that they'll be saved somehow. I don't get it, I cherish my right to fend for myself.

Obama Wants to Send Troops to Afghanistan

2009-04-24T20:16:00.004-04:00

He heard that they have great ice cream over there.

How to Tell if You're a Liberal

2009-04-22T09:52:00.002-04:00

http://www.ehow.com/how_4918271_tell-youre-liberal.html

Fun stuff! ;)

Global Warming Fun

2009-04-21T17:19:00.001-04:00

Hans Schreuder of ILoveMyCarbonDioxide.com submitted this analysis to the EPA on their endangerment ruling - http://tech-know.eu/uploads/EPAInput.pdf

It’s a great read.

No Al Gore, I Won't Stop Being Productive

2009-04-19T14:48:00.004-04:00

Today the media and government tell us that by using the most efficient forms of energy available, we are destroying our climate. Furthermore, if you disagree with this claim, you are in the same category as a holocaust denier.

No Al Gore, I Won't Stop Being Productive from Associated Content

Of Liberty & Limits

2008-11-05T16:14:00.006-05:00

"But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical. It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted, and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can't do to you. Says what the federal government can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf."
- Barack Obama, 2001 Interview

I wonder what George Washington thinks of breaking free from the "constraints" of the constitution?

"The Constitution which at any time exists, 'till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole People is sacredly obligatory upon all."
- George Washington, Farewell Address, September 19, 1796

Barack Obama is full of youthful, foolish zeal. His ideas that the constitution is fundamentally flawed, that paying higher taxes is patriotic, that using near a trillion dollars of tax-payer money to bail out failed government experiments which interfere with the free market helps the tax-payer, that levying a a much heavier tax on one group of society simply because they're more successful equates to fairness, and that he believes punishing the most successful corporations in America via taxes will somehow create more jobs for the middle class are all just a few reasons why Barack Obama is misguided.

Barack Obama cannot and will not make the unfortunate in our country any better off by promising to give them all the things a man should work for and calling those things 'rights'. I'd say more but I'm out of time. Instead I'll leave with some quotes.

"A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate."
- Thomas Jefferson, Rights of British America, 1774

"I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I traveled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
- Benjamin Franklin, On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, November 1766

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government -- lest it come to dominate our lives and interests."
- Patrick Henry

"For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread."
- 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 (KJV)

"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
- James Madison, speech at the Constitutional Convention, July 11, 1787

"Experience is the oracle of truth; and where its responses are unequivocal, they ought to be conclusive and sacred."
- Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 20, December 11, 1787

"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one."
- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

"But a Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever."
- John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 17, 1775

"When liberty is taken away by force it can be restored by force. When it is relinquished voluntarily by default it can never be recovered."
- Dorothy Thompson

And I'll end with "The Ten Cannots" by Reverend William J. H. Boetcker:

* You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
* You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
* You cannot help little men by tearing down big men.
* You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
* You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
* You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
* You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
* You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn.
* You cannot build character and courage by destroying men's initiative and independence.
* And you cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.