Can the Government Fix Everything?
Government control has had a place among America’s debatable topics, and the new focus is obesity. In Radley Balko’s essay “What You Eat Is Your Business”, which was published May 23, 2004 on the Cato Institute website, he discusses that topic in regards to restrictions and laws placed on the food industry. Some people are all for the government placing more regulations on food and requiring more detailed labeling on packaged foods, but others say the government has no right to tell us what to eat. Balko is arguing the side that believes the government does not have the right to decide what we eat, which is not surprising because he is a “self-described libertarian”. Balko’s essay does well supporting his belief that the government is going about fixing the obesity problem the wrong way, he also proposes an alternate plan that he feels would work better, but he writes this essay to a conservative, libertarian audience which would limit its effectiveness on a person with different beliefs. For the most part, Balko successfully argues against more governmental control
First off who is Radley Balko says and why does his opinion of this matter. Radley has worked for several major magazines and as a …show more content…
That is a sentence in the essay which clearly states Balko’s opinion about whether or not the government should be involved in what you are allowed to eat. Obesity is not a national problem, it is an individual’s personal problem and cannot be fixed except by effort on the part of the unhealthy person. Look at the prohibition, there was an amendment made to the Constitution outlawing the sale and consumption of alcohol. In spite of that amendment there were still plenty of people getting drunk every night. It is clear that laws do not change people, and are not the answer to the correct answer to
Government control has had a place among America’s debatable topics, and the new focus is obesity. In Radley Balko’s essay “What You Eat Is Your Business”, which was published May 23, 2004 on the Cato Institute website, he discusses that topic in regards to restrictions and laws placed on the food industry. Some people are all for the government placing more regulations on food and requiring more detailed labeling on packaged foods, but others say the government has no right to tell us what to eat. Balko is arguing the side that believes the government does not have the right to decide what we eat, which is not surprising because he is a “self-described libertarian”. Balko’s essay does well supporting his belief that the government is going about fixing the obesity problem the wrong way, he also proposes an alternate plan that he feels would work better, but he writes this essay to a conservative, libertarian audience which would limit its effectiveness on a person with different beliefs. For the most part, Balko successfully argues against more governmental control
First off who is Radley Balko says and why does his opinion of this matter. Radley has worked for several major magazines and as a …show more content…
That is a sentence in the essay which clearly states Balko’s opinion about whether or not the government should be involved in what you are allowed to eat. Obesity is not a national problem, it is an individual’s personal problem and cannot be fixed except by effort on the part of the unhealthy person. Look at the prohibition, there was an amendment made to the Constitution outlawing the sale and consumption of alcohol. In spite of that amendment there were still plenty of people getting drunk every night. It is clear that laws do not change people, and are not the answer to the correct answer to