SF sugary drink tax immoral

Conservatives get a bum rap for wanting to control people. To be sure, and this really applies to almost any political group when you think about it, there are degrees to which we right wingers do attempt to control human behavior. Being against abortion and gay marriage come quickly to mind, for example. But then, any rational person understands that there are areas where attempts to control others are necessary for the public good. We could not have laws against murder, theft, or kidnapping if we didn't accept that society must try to control some human behaviors. Yet there are truly not that many areas where conservatives wish to control the public actions of others.

Enter into this line of thought Proposal E, which will be on the San Francisco city ballot this November 4th. It would place a tax of two cents per ounce on sugary beverages. Two cents per ounce. That's 24 cents per twelve ounce can. A buck-twenty eight on a Super Big Gulp at your favorite 7/11. Another California city, Berkeley, is to consider a penny an ounce tax on such drinks. We will grant that these measures will not end the consumption of soft drinks. You could still drink them, you'll just have to pay through the nose for the right.

This is worse than any conservative actions against any supposed civil rights, quite frankly. This is micromanaging; this is nagging; this is the very definition of the nanny state, and it runs deeper than right wing beliefs that a fetus is a child or that marriage is one man to one woman. Initiatives such as these indicate a desire to control all aspects of human activity. These proposals indicate the desire by some to control all parts of human endeavor: don't think for a moment that your right to an abortion would be safe if these powers begin to think it beyond your capability to decide for yourself about childbirth. Look at China: they'll tell you you must have an abortion if the state thinks you should.

We don't actually believe that that is at the front of the minds of the San Francisco establishment which wants this measure enacted; they're not thinking that far ahead. They're simply trying to do something for the 'good' of the masses, or maybe trying to find a new revenue stream (like that will work: people will simply stop buying Coke in San Fran stores or restaurants). But is a direction which can be taken over, in the long run, by those who do think in the long run about questions of social engineering. Or more to the point, about people who believe that humanity must be formed in their image. Those folks, contrary to popular belief, are not conservative.

Proposal E is not merely wrong on its face. It is insulting to anyone who actually believes that people are responsible for themselves. Those people are conservative. The real libertarians.