So, the federal government will outlaw trans-fats, salt, and butter. And they will ration soft drinks, and sugar (one cup per household per month). You think not? Let's see.

Last week, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi revealed, perhaps inadvertently, a major objective of the government's health care bill. She was speaking before the Legislative Conference for National Association of Counties. The most-quoted passage was astounding all by itself. We featured it on our home page:

But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy.

That's enough to make your hair stand up. But once the president signs the bill, that becomes moot.

But later in her speech, Ms. Pelosi disclosed the thinking built into the bill -- the real reason the Democrats are so rabid to pass it:

You've heard about the controversies within the bill, the process about the bill, one or the other. But I don't know if you have heard that it is legislation for the future, not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America, where preventive care is not something that you have to pay a deductible for or out of pocket. Prevention, prevention, prevention -- its about diet, not diabetes. It's going to be very, very exciting.

You can read the entire speech here: -- http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1576

So, you might reply, "What's wrong with that? The government wants us to be healthy." And I would respond, "Sure; but is that the government's responsibility?" And you might reply, "Who cares? We end up healthier; and that's a good thing. They have good intentions. Let it go!" I would impatiently reply, "They also had good intentions when they put a "millionaire's" tax on yachts. But that put thousands of American boat-builders out of work, too. Do you want a list of all the harm that the federal government has done to its citizens in the name of "good intentions"? "Oh, George Bush did it, too. Halliburton, Halliburton, Halliburton! George Bush lied! Dick Cheney is evil." So, there ya' go. That's the liberals' fallback position, every time. (It makes them feel good.)

"Diet, Not Diabetes" --? The clear implication is that the government is going to prevent diabetes. Glory be!! God bless Nancy Pelosi! Any responsible dietitian will tell you that diet cannot prevent diabetes. Diabetes is often genetic and cannot be prevented. Fact. So, once again, the government is wrong on its facts and is making dangerous, false promises to the public. In fact, the enormous improvements in the treatment of diabetes have come as a result of billions of dollars being invested by those "evil" drug companies. Today, diabetes is an inconvenience, not a death sentence -- thanks to the researchers, doctors, and drug companies in the private sector. It is the marketplace, competition and incentive, that will produce a cure for diabetes -- if the government does not get in the way. But the legislators do not want you to know that. They want you to believe just the opposite. Why do you suppose that is?

It's For Our Own Good -- Or, Government Knows Better

In the name of prevention and good intentions, the health care legislation will allow the government to take a much more active role in controlling the food supply -- what we all can and cannot eat. Speaker Pelosi signalled that last week.

But what's really behind it? Control. Power. The progressive liberals in the government -- and they are now fully in control -- think that they know better than you. They think that you are too stupid to be allowed to make your own choices about food intake. (In many cases, they are right. The fat tubbies out there are disgustingly stupid.) But instead of allowing people -- all Americans -- to make their own choices and endure the consequences, stupid or not, the government wants to step in and control our actions. The current health care legislation sets the stage for that.

First, the government will allow, and thus encourage, irresponsible behavior without consequence -- as they have done with so many things (think anything from the AIG bailout to free condoms for everyone). When Americans eat themselves into fat pigs, the government health plan will pay for gastric bypass surgery. "Eat all you want; we'll suck out the fat and cut out half of your stomach." (Never mind the inevitable negative consequences of such surgery.) Though, eventually, they will mind the cost.

When millions -- yes, literally millions -- of Americans line up on gurneys in the halls of hospitals waiting for their surgery (think the lines at the DMV: "Take a number and be patient, please."), and the costs skyrocket -- as is the inevitable outcome -- under the guise of fiscal responsibility, progressive legislators will propose that they take stronger measures to finally "bend the cost curve."

"Millions of Americans out there are hurting. This is a health care crisis." (And we should never let a crisis go to waste.) We have to do something!

So, in order to save us from ourselves, the government will, slowly but surely, begin restricting the diet of all Americans. First: trans-fats. Out. Gone. Then, salt. (Yes, a state legislator in New York has already seriously proposed such a ban.) Meanwhile, they'll tax the heck out of soft drinks (just as they have tobacco). It would be too disruptive to ban them altogether. So, for starters, they'll just tax soft drinks so that most Americans cannot afford them. After all, it's for our own good. And, in the meantime, the government collects billions of dollars to offset the tremendous costs associated with "free" health care.

Ice Cream? No. And eventually, rationing of sugar: one cup per household per month.

As Bill Clinton said so often, "It's for the children."

And that, my friends, is how the federal government will "bend the cost curve" of health care.

The progressive liberals will remind us of how many lives have been saved and enhanced by their bold agenda, and how much better off we all are as a result.

And those of us who would rather that Americans be allowed the freedom to make their own decisions, reap the benefits thereof, and suffer the consequences? Those of us who believe strongly in the freedoms that our founding fathers intended and wrote into the Constitution? Oh, we just want people to die, that's all. Oh, and "Halliburton, Halliburton, Halliburton!"

The liberal progressives crave power and control. The health care legislation is the realization of a dream they have harbored since the 1930s. Seventy years later, it is within their grasp. Their time has finally come. As more and more Americans become even more dependent on the government, it will ensure Democratic majorities in Congress for another half century.

"Very exciting." So says Speaker Pelosi.

This is the health care legislation that the Congress will pass this week... despite the fact -- THE FACT -- that more than half the country does not want it.

It's for your own good. The American people are too stupid to realize otherwise.

"We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it."

This is a printer-friendly version of our This Week with the Chicowitz essay for the week of March 15, 2010. The Internet address for this essay is http://www.bbhq.com/thisweek.htm

Return to the standard version of this essay.

We have a new essay at BBHQ every Monday.

Baby Boomer HeadQuarters -- WWW.BBHQ.COM -- is the place on the Internet for those with the boomer spirit!

	Or, click the drop-down arrow and take your pick! The BBHQ Merchandise Mart Pictures, Posters & Autographs Alfalfa Muhammad Ali Woody Allen Beatles Jimmy Buffett Carol Burnett Eric Clapton Roy Clark Sean Connery Joe Cool Kirk Douglas Clint Eastwood Elvis Bob Feller W.C. Fields Harrison Ford the Godfather Andy Griffith Katherine Hepburn Dustin Hoffman the Honeymooners Bob Hope Martin Luther King Laurel & Hardy Life magazine Little Rascals Robert Mitchum Mickey Mouse Muppet Show Paul Newman Newman & Redford Jack Nicholson Peter, Paul & Mary Playboy logo Post, Time magazines The Lone Ranger Rat Pack Ronald Reagan The Riddler Rocky Mickey Rooney Simon & Garfunkel Spanky & Scotty Shirley Temple James Stewart - "Harvey" James Stewart - "It's a Wonderful Life" John Travolta John Wayne Woodstock