Soda jerk: Look out, it could be your coffee drink next ...

We are used to laughing at the idiocy of big cities and their usually liberal policies.

So, when the news got out that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who was thought to be conservative, by the way, came out with a plan to outlaw big cups of soft drinks as a measure to keep his city healthier, the rest of the country burst out into a collective giggle.

Well, most of the country anyway. San Francisco is already monitoring what its residents eat and drink.

On the surface, this seems like a good idea. Americans are too fat and they drink too much in the sugary drink department. So, the solution must be to prevent them from hurting themselves, right?

Wrong.

Problem with proposals like this is that they have no business anywhere near city government offices, let alone a city at all.

America is a country where its residents are free to make their own choices. If they choose to drink 20 ounces of Mountain Dew or a 96-ounce iced latte, that is their decision.

Government has no business telling anyone what to eat or drink, let alone attacking them for doing so.

It is called overstepping your boundaries -- and it is, actually, pretty tough to implement and to enforce. Will you get a ticket if you are caught with 24 ounces of Coke you bring from home?

It is astonishing that now, with so much more to worry about, New York City's mayor has this on his mind.

Or, then again, maybe it isn't.

Published in Editorials on June 7, 2012 10:38 AM