The government should not control if people eat healthy or not. It is a personal choice not the government’s or anyone else’s. If the government starts keeping us from the things we want to eat, it’s like taking away some of our freedom. In the video, “Myths, Lies, and Complete Stupidity” John Stossel mentions how putting calories on the menus in restaurants doesn't make any difference. Most people who go to fast food restaurants don't care how much calories are in a meal. Some people may even want to get the meal that has the most calories because they are hungry, which can make the problem even worse.
People should get to make their own decisions on what they eat whether it's healthy or not. Being healthy is a personal choice. Why should the government make you eat things you may not even want? The government doesn't care about the people, they only care about their reputation because later on people are going to blame the government for not doing anything about the obesity problem. People shouldn't blame the government for themselves being obese anyway because that’s their problem and it was because of the choices they made that made them overweight. The government should stop worrying about the obesity problem and focus on more important issues they have.
Controlling what people eat will make fast food restaurants and companies that sell unhealthy foods go out of business, which means people would lose their job and that would lead to bigger problems. Being obese is not only from eating junk food or eating fast food, but it’s because some people just don't exercise enough. Exercising is an important part with being healthy, if you at least exercise a few times a week it will make a difference, it can actually lead to healthier choices.
The government can't choose what people eat and making unhealthy foods more expensive will just cause people to get angry. As mentioned in “Myths,Lies and Complete Stupidity”, Denmark's fat tax, which was repealed, is proof that making unhealthy foods more expensive isn't going to solve the problem right away, it will only make people angry. If people get angry at something the government did like raising taxes on food, it wont last long and it will be repelled just like the Denmark fat tax.
Stossel talked about how Mayor Bloomberg tried to ban the large size soda cup, which didn't happen. It wouldn't of have made any difference because someone could easily get two mediums or two smalls which is just as much or more than a large size. Banning things such as salt in restaurants wouldn't work either because someone can easily bring their own salt and people would just complain to the government anyway.
It’s not the governments choice to keep people healthy, it’s everyone's personal choice what they eat. The government thinks they can easily solve the problem by putting calories on menus, banning sizes of cups, or taxing junk food but they have all failed. Obesity is not the biggest or most important issue going on right now in the U.S. The government should stop thinking they can some how make everyone healthy and start taking care of more important problems they have.