First Lady Michelle Obama recently gave a speech on the need to fight childhood obesity. To soften, or perhaps hide the politics of her speech, she told the audience she was addressing them not simply as the first lady, but as a mother and as a wife. To underline the point, she noted the difficulties she and her family had eating right on the campaign trail. She even mentioned how she was "shocked" when she noticed that her children had put on a "few pounds". It was this disturbing observation that contributed to her commitment to launch a campaign against childhood obesity.
Throughout her speech, the First Lady stressed how obesity among children is not simply a personal or familial issue. Neither is it a local or state issue. It is a national one. It is necessary for obesity to be a national one if the federal involvement is to get involved in the eating and exercise habits of America's children. The veneer of limited government must be preserved. Her calm, measured tone and her personal anecdotes of fighting the battle of childhood obesity gave the speech a feeling of deep sincerity. Her "shock" at finding that her own children had gained weight while on the campaign trail made the issue personal. She felt shocked because she believed she was a good mother and that she was "doing what I was supposed to do." The experience of discovering her children had gained weight was "disorienting." If childhood obesity can sneak up on the first family, how much more sinister a problem is it with the nation at large?
Her bona fides established, she went on to list a series of alarming statistics associated with the rise in childhood obesity as well engaging in economic casuistry by noting the costs associated with it due to lost work, the greater occurrence of diabetes, high blood pressure, and other afflictions that affect the overweight. She stated that her husband's administration will join the private sector in combating the rise in childhood obesity. It should be pointed out that the government joins nothing. Like the Mafia, once the government becomes a partner in something, it becomes the government's.
Because she came at the problem as a mother, not a politician, any implication that her speech had a political agenda was blunted. Being a concerned mother is not a partisan position. Everyone is this together, from the First Lady on down. Secondly, it is much more problematic to be critical of a caring and loving parent who is only trying to help than a politician proposing policy. Yet, despite her soothing and sincere tone, she was proposing policy. Once her credentials were established, she laid out a list of programs she and her husband were pursuing to address the problem: and the list was a long one. From increasing physical activities in school to increasing the number of farmers markets, it was clear a lot of thought had been given to the issue. I can only presume the government will create farmers markets by giving tax breaks. I would hope that Obama is not considering opening a government franchise but, given his disdain for the free market and his appetite for government expansion, it cannot be ruled out.
The First Lady's speech was not simply a response to an alarming report or the realization that her family had put on a few pounds. It was a postion that had been given a lot of thought. Celebrities have been lined up to make speeches and commercials. Task forces have been established and policies prepared to offer support and guidance to schools. The FDA will work with food retailers to revise food labels so as to help parents make "healthy choices" in the supermarkets, as if the government and labels are needed to tell people that macaroni and cheese, ice cream, Twinkies, and soda pop will make you fat.
The creation of the FDA task force is perhaps the most disturbing thing of all. Implicit in the need for a task force to be formed is the notion that Americans are incapable of addressing the issue on their own. The plots of the fast food industry and the merchants of sloth are simply too seductive and too wily to be discovered and resisted by the average individual. The secrets of eating in moderation and exercising are too well kept to be stumbled upon. But the sinister machinations of the food industry are only part of the problem. The torpor of the American public must be overcome as well. It is believed that many Americans will only get off the couch and stay out of the ice cream section at the grocery store if the government makes them.
Of special irritation to those who seek to help the public shape up and lose weight are the many adults and children who know they are overweight and don't care. Their disinterest in their appearance and improving themselves is a bewilderment to the vain and self absorbed. They are the ones who would buy Twinkies no matter how largely or how prominently the number of calories or percentage of fat is printed on the box. They are the ones who, if they are to be helped, must be compelled or reeducated to change their ways. So compel and reeducate them the government will, especially if they do not want help or do not care that they are obese. They must be helped lest they grow ever in size and number to the point where they threaten to undermine the economy and bankrupt the nation.
The obesity problem in the U.S. we are told has become too large and too dangerous for anyone but the federal government to address. Parents have proven unable to prevent or reduce their own, or their children's size or weight. State and local governments have been ineffectual in their attempts to limit the girth of their citizens. Without the federal government's help, many will be condemned to obesity, illness, and early death. Perhaps most tragically, those people will have suffered and died needlessly. If only they had known that being overweight was unhealthy and that there were ways to avoid obesity, their fate would have been different. Only if the government is allowed to help, will people no longer be condemned to live their lives being unhealthy and obese. A solution is finally at hand, but only if counterrevolutionaries and the merchants of sloth and gluttony can be kept from hiding it.
According to modern liberalism, every overweight child is society's problem. Society's problems are the government's problems. Anyone with doubts concerning the motives or sincerity behind the desire for government involvement in the struggle against childhood obesity, need only look to the First Lady. She is a mother fighting the same struggle against childhood obesity as every other. If she thinks the government can help, who are we to doubt her?
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