How can the government tell us what to eat? Isn’t freedom what our country prides itself in? I am going to eat what I want, when I want. The possibility of the government directing the nation and controlling our food, freaks people out. It is not the government’s right to tax unhealthy foods. If Americans are upset because they are obese, then they need to fix that by themselves and start eating the healthy foods and working out. But this must be a choice, not a demand from our government.

“Myths, Lies, and Complete Stupidity” by John Stossel does a great job of showing how the government really doesn’t need to take control over our food industry. The video shows how the public clearly doesn’t like the government making laws about food. For example, when New York banned buying a sixteen ounce soft drink, the public purchased two of the smaller cups, which well exceeded sixteen ounces. Did the US government honestly think taking away a large soda option would help fix the nation’s obesity problem?

John Stossel met up with a woman who won awards for her deserts and had her bake a healthy donut and a regular donut. He gave New Yorkers a choice of which one they wanted to eat and a majority of them picked the regular one. There were people who liked the healthy one, but this was just another example of how the people like to make their own choices. If John would have just gone out there with a plate of healthy donuts, I’m sure no one would have stopped to try one. Nobody likes being forced into anything, especially when it is about what they put into their body.

In the UK, the government made a “Fat Tax.” And you know what happened with that? It got repealed a year later because of how incredibly stupid it was. The fat tax just didn’t work. Yet our government thinks they will be able to pull it off. Yeah right!

Another “fix” the government tried to make was putting calorie counts on the menus. That is fine, but like it mentioned in the video, nobody pays attention to it. They are still going to order what they order on a regular basis. Some might decide to change what they order, but only because they had the choice too. Let’s say you go to McDonald’s and are really hoping for a Big Mac, but when you go to order it, you are told you can only get the salad because the government says it is healthier. How do you think people would react to that? They would be outraged. There are just some things that need to be left alone by the government.

Our nation is obese, but at least we have our freedom and choices. Without that, we wouldn’t be the country known for freedom. The government wants our food freedom taken away, but we know this is “complete stupidity,” and we will be able to find loopholes around them. The government has no right to take control over us and our food industry. As Americans, we have the right to choose and that should never be taken away.