Articles tagged as

Nanny State

Nanny Staters / Progressives really do believe this – you ARE incapable of making rational decisions!

And they are happy to fix that situation….and in fact, demand that they be allowed to meddle in our lives.  After all:

Democrat NH House Rep. Kris Roberts of Keene uttered on the floor of Representative Hall these fine words concerning Government and his fellow citizens:

“Government has to protect us from our own stupidity.”

Many of the delegates at the recently completed Democrat National Convention agreed with this – they have no problem believing that people have the freedom to choose for themselves but only if they make the right decisions:

(H/T: Reason TV )

“I’m pro-intervention.”

Q: So people should only be allowed to make “good” choices?

A: No, people should make choices that have good results

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There is nothing more moral than eliminating government ‘charity’

As conservative Republicans work to eliminate or reduce the amount of money New Hampshire spends on government programs, critics on the political left have emerged from time to time with the idea that these policies are immoral—or as one outspoken critic said, “morally repugnant.”

This criticism is predicated on a belief that only government can provide for the basic needs of people who can’t provide for themselves. We agree that people need to take care of one another. It is our moral obligation. But it’s not government’s job to do it. In fact, one of the best things about American history is how well we have taken care of one another, even before the federal government launched its “War on Poverty” or created programs such as Medicaid or Obamacare.

Alexis de Tocqueville, a French political thinker and historian who traveled to America in the 1830s, wrote that one of the strengths of 19th Century America was its “robust civil society,” which he defined as the institutions, such as the family, the church and other secular civic organizations, that operated between the individual and the government. He praised these institutions, explaining how they tempered the isolating tendencies of individualism and the “despotic proclivities of centralized [government] administration.”

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Notable Quotes: Frederic Bastiat

Bastiat, Frederic Bastiat[There] “is this idea that mankind is merely inert matter, receiving life, organization, morality, and prosperity from the power of the state.  And even worse, it will be stated that mankind tends toward degeneration, and is stopped from this downward course only by the mysterious hand of the legislator.

-Frédéric Bastiat

For Barack ‘You Didn’t Build That’ Obama and Elizabeth Warren – and just about every Democrat…

“Life, faculties, production—in other words, individuality, liberty, property—this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”

more…?

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Internet Doodlings – Once again, back at Treehugger…this time, Mayor Bloomberg soda ban

Ah yes, the Nanniest of them all, Mayor “Do as I say, not as I do” Bloomberg wants to ban large capacity soda servings.  One more thing that “It’s good for you to NOT drink all that” as if sugary water is the worst thing EVAH!   Hey Bloomberg – how about concentrating on stuff that Mayors are supposed to concentrate on that would be more important – like murders and crime?  Potholes?  What about your failing public school system – what was your graduation rate again? Oh yeah, a rate of 65% but not ready for college:

Sixty-one percent of city students who started high school in 2006 graduated on time in 2010, compared with 59 percent of those who started in 2005 and graduated in 2009.

But only 21.4 percent of those students earned high enough scores on their math and English state tests to be deemed prepared for college and well-paying careers.

That’s the [success] ticket!  If 78% of your grads can’t go directly to college, that’s not properly educating your students (a MAJOR part of your responsibility).  Yet, that is of lesser importance than grabbing big cups of soda out of the hands of folks in your city?

Anyways, back to the Treehugger post (which isn’t as bad as some of the pro-ban pandering I’ve read):

When if comes down to it, the ban would only be an inconvenience for the die-hard soda drinkers. If you really want to drink 32 ounces of Coke, no one is going to stop you from ordering two.

Your ability to choose what YOU want?  Not so much.  They don’t see it as individual freedom issue – rather, an infringement on the collective having to pay for the bad habits of all us fat people.  My response:

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L.A. City Council Votes 13-1 to Ban Plastic Grocery Bags

  The Los Angeles city council voted 13-1 to ban plastic shopping bags in grocery stores.  There is a lengthy review and implementation process to follow but if all goes to plan within about 10-12 months the ban will be in force.  Paper bags will still be available for a ten cent fee.  I like … Read more

Internet Doodlings – “meanwhile, back over at Treehugger…”

Yeah, back there again.  While the name connotes an environmental bent (which it does), there is enough there to start proving “Green on the outside, Red on the inside”.  Or at a minimum, think the Nanny State with Nurse Ratched looking back at you.  Doubt me?  Loyal reader C. Dog e. dog seems to be lately frequenting those haunts as well – it does give one a chance to raise one’s game a bit.  Anyways, there’s this post complaining about our latest epidemic, obesity, and that the Government HAS to do something – Corporations through small children are forcing parent to buy junk food (or something…):

One of the recommendations intended to speed things up is for the food industry to “take broad, common, and urgent voluntary action to make substantial improvements” to marketing aimed at kids. This is certainly important, as advocates have for years been sounding the alarm about the intractable problem of junk food marketing to children and its connection to poor health. But another part of the IOM dictate sounded vaguely familiar:

If such marketing standards have not been adopted within two years by a substantial majority of food, beverage, restaurant, and media companies that market foods and beverages to children and adolescents, policy makers at the local, state, and federal levels should consider setting mandatory nutritional standards for marketing to this age group to ensure that such standards are implemented.

And this:

“Congress should enact legislation mandating” a shift in advertising. Also, that “[w]ithin 2 years the Secretary [of health] should report to Congress on the progress and on additional actions necessary to accelerate progress.”

 Well, I couldn’t let that go by….

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What could go wrong? LA Set to Ban Paper and Plastic

paper-or-plastic-or something moreDemocrats don’t think things through.  (Progressive Republicans are no different, to be fair.)  They enact policies in response to the echo chamber of voices in their ideologically isolationist heads, all the things Edmund Burke warned us against centuries ago.  The result is almost always bureaucratic nonsense, another small loss of freedom, massive expense with little or no gain, followed by a parade of newer and more expensive (and intrusive) policies to “correct” the first.

The progressive Darth Vader might say of such people, “The urge to meddle is strong with this one.”

So what could go wrong if the Los Angeles City Council decided to ban all paper and plastic bags from Supermarket checkouts?

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If You Have An Erection Lasting Longer Than Four Hours…

Ed Morrissey, over at Hot Air, has a quote worth sharing.  On the matter of Reason TV’s Nanny of the Month–an Arizona Legislator wanted to add disclaimers to air-brushed images–he makes a point about disclaimers in general and how they have become fuel for our amusement. I already laugh at the pharmaceutical ads that go … Read more

Then There Are “These” Refugee Costs

“All institutions are prone to corruption and to the vices of their members.”  —Morris West

Beatrice Munyenyezi  has resided nearby here in Manchester since 2002 .  Like many others who have come  to the United States as Refugees, Munyenyezi came to raise her children, work and, essentially, “live the American Dream.”  But also unlike many other refugees, Munyenyezi presently stands accused of personally participating in the Rwandan genocide, as an extremist Hutu who not only killed, but had a hand in the rapes of untold Tutsi victims.

U.S. Immigration in its’ U.S. District Court complaint in Concord, accuses Munyenyezi of lying  to enter the United States to gain citizenship. Currently behind bars without bail, Munyenyezi  is slated to begin trial this Wednesday on fraud charges.

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The Food Stamp Nation and Its’ President

 “I’d go to, like, six different schools in one year. We were on welfare, and my mom never ever worked.” —Eminem

Greetings from the Welfare State

During the Republican Presidential Debates, Newt Gingrich referred to President Obama as the, “Food Stamp President.” That was last week. Yet, over two years ago, Wyatt Emmerich, Publisher for the Northside Sun based in Jackson, Mississippi posited an editorial where his underlying thesis was, “a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year.”  (See Emmerich’s Editorial in its entirety, Here)

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A Gun Runnning Message In a Bottle

ATF and Holder, and all the rest of the cranks, insist it was to track the guns to the bad guys. But given the way democrats feel about gun rights you have to wonder if they had other motives. “Finding” American guns in the hands of drug cartels plays right into their rhetoric.

Don’t Ban My Cell Phone – Ban Teenage Drivers Instead

Ban cell phones?HB 546 would ban cell phone use in your vehicle while driving.  But is that the actual problem?  Up until we had Ray LaHood the phone-o-phobe running the NHTSA from the department of Transportation most of the data indicated that talking on a cell phone was no less dangerous than having a conversation in the vehicle with another person.  As of this writing, you can’t find that data anymore.  In fact the NHTSA and the government have a dedicated web site to distracted driving that highlights cell phones as a major cause of driver distraction and even Oprah is in on the action, but that tidbit appears to be missing.

Suspicious?  You should be.

Looking at the large picture cell phones have become the bogeyman equivalent of CO2.  The Democrats and their green $pecial intere$t friend$ say CO2 is making the planet hotter but despite there being millions more tons of it about it hasn’t gotten warmer.  It has gotten cooler.  And rich liberals keep buying up expensive ocean front property despite dire warnings of rising sea-levels.  Insurance scam or hypocrisy?

So what’s the deal with cell phones?

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Turn Your Head And Cough

Looks like the FDA is looking to change how we get our cough syrup.  They are holding a hearing on September 14th to review their fabulous new idea–to require a doctors prescription to get the same cough remedy you currently get over the counter. You would need to go to and pay for a doctor … Read more

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