Somewhere along the way, our great country turned its back on the ideals of individual liberty and responsibility. Slowly but surely we've moved toward what I call the nanny state. It's not that the government shouldn't step in some of the time (child labor laws, for instance). But, it's not the government's place to tell people how to live their lives and spend the people's tax money doing it, especially when we face billions of dollars in state debt and trillions in national debt.
You might have noticed that every time you walk into a deli or grocery store nowadays you see a disgusting picture behind the counter of a decaying tooth or black lungs. The New York City Department of Health requires that these anti-smoking ads are displayed in any store that sells cigarettes or other tobacco products, otherwise the owner will have to pay a $2,000 fine. If you take the subway, you will see ads with what looks like someone pouring out globby fat from a Snapple bottle to illustrate that when you drink sugary beverages, you're putting fatty goop into your body. If this is the road we're taking, we might as well put a warning label on Taco Bell and KFC.
Luckily however, this year New York has reduced its anti-smoking campaign budget from $85 million to $58 million. I know what you're thinking: zippety doo dah! I'm thinking that the government shouldn't spend another penny on anti-lifestyle ads. In fact, it should take the $58 million and do what my mommy told me when I was a young boy and put it in the piggy bank. It's a word that has become foreign to our ears: saving.
It should be noted that the main reason a state goes into debt or has a deficit in the first place is because its representatives spend money the state doesn't have. Now if it was on an individual level, that individual would have to figure out a way to earn the money to pay off his or her debt. However, since we're talking about the government, the way they pay back their money is by punishing the tax payers with excess taxes, fares, hikes and penalties on everything from parking tickets to a $3.75 tax on cigarettes.
Here's some food for thought: Why don't the smart people who run this city and state start cutting the debt right now by immediately eliminating all funding to the Center for a Tobacco Free New York. Concerning the national level, I would also cut all funding to The Foundation For A Better Life. Thank you for telling me I should be generous and that cigarettes are bad for me. Double duh.
The government is not your mother, it's your government. It should be looking out for you to an extent. But instead of actually looking out for you when they should, i.e. when the banks ran wild with people's money, they try to overtly show people they care with stupid advertisements, which might as well be billions of dollars of our money thrown in the incinerator, with commercials such as a kid blowing his brains out with his father's gun because he smoked a joint with his friend.
I don't even see how the government can make any effort to legalize marijuana at the same time it spends money on ads against smoking pot. It's mind-bogglingly hypocritical.
That's my point of view, and now I'm going to have a cigarette in what I hope will remain a free country.
