Suitably Flip

Nannyism In New York (a Regrettably Continuing Series)

A New York State Senator has introduced a bill that would outlaw the use of styrofoam in food services.

The bill, which would apply to restaurants, fast-food chains, supermarkets, and other vendors, would require businesses to phase out Styrofoam products within one year.

City schools throw away 150 million Styrofoam meal trays a year.

"Picture Styrofoam, and you picture a product produced from petroleum that takes up to 500 years to fully disintegrate," [State Senator Liz Krueger] said in a statement.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, the State Senator in question was my opponent in the 2006 election in New York's 26th Senate District.)

Like New York's enacted and/or proposed bannings of the use of trans fats, the "N word", aluminum baseball bats, whole milk, foie gras, and iPodding-while-street-crossing, this is another disheartening example of government stripping away day-to-day liberties in order to constrain behavior to centrally mandated norms.  To resist such initiatives is to dare to defy the judgment of our duly elected betters and to presume that the people's decision making abilities ought to hold sway in a free society.

Previously:
Nannyism Backfires
New York's Runaway Banwagon
iNanny
New York Loves the N-Word
Nannyism Is the New Black
Nannyism in New York

Comments

Nannyism In New York (a Regrettably Continuing Series)

A New York State Senator has introduced a bill that would outlaw the use of styrofoam in food services.

The bill, which would apply to restaurants, fast-food chains, supermarkets, and other vendors, would require businesses to phase out Styrofoam products within one year.

City schools throw away 150 million Styrofoam meal trays a year.

"Picture Styrofoam, and you picture a product produced from petroleum that takes up to 500 years to fully disintegrate," [State Senator Liz Krueger] said in a statement.

(In the spirit of full disclosure, the State Senator in question was my opponent in the 2006 election in New York's 26th Senate District.)

Like New York's enacted and/or proposed bannings of the use of trans fats, the "N word", aluminum baseball bats, whole milk, foie gras, and iPodding-while-street-crossing, this is another disheartening example of government stripping away day-to-day liberties in order to constrain behavior to centrally mandated norms.  To resist such initiatives is to dare to defy the judgment of our duly elected betters and to presume that the people's decision making abilities ought to hold sway in a free society.

Previously:
Nannyism Backfires
New York's Runaway Banwagon
iNanny
New York Loves the N-Word
Nannyism Is the New Black
Nannyism in New York