Soda Ban Cons

Is the well-being of the public worth giving up a little freedom? There have been different opinions on Mayor Bloomberg’s soda ban in New York City. Some say it takes away freedoms, while others believe it benefits the public’s health. The soda ban is a good idea because soda is unhealthy and people need guidance to make decisions. To start off, the soda ban is appropriate because it helps people make better decisions. Sarah Conly states in the opinion piece “Three Cheers for the Nanny State” that “there are a number of areas in which we fairly dependably fail. They call such a tendency a ‘cognitive bias’ and there are many of them- a lot of ways in which our own minds trip us up.” Conly declares that at times, people fail at making decisions that are good for them, and may benefit from some help. Furthermore, Conly says “It’s well established by now that we often don’t think very clearly when it comes to …show more content…
The so called “soda ban” isn’t really a ban on soda, people can still easily and legally buy it. For those that don’t mind the health effects or really enjoy soda, they can still buy more, smaller sized beverages. But for most people, it would cause them to make healthier choices in life. Revisiting the article of Sarah Conly, it is written, “Giving up a little liberty is something we agree to when we agree to live in a democratic society that is governed by laws. The freedom to buy a really large soda, all in one cup, is something we stand to lose here. For most people, given their desire for health, that results in a net gain. For some people, yes, it's an absolute loss. It’s just not much of a loss.” The author explains that sometimes people have to give something up for the better of many people. In this case the majority benefits from the soda limitation, but everyone else still has the right to soda. To summarize, although the new law limits soda, it benefits many