In Which Red Is A Responsible Member Of A Democracy

[redbrunja]

I just heard that there is a vote coming up which offers a chance to repeal an increased tax on, basically, junk food. And I was really unsure about which way I would vote for a bit because I have really mixed feeling about what we should do regarding increased obesity in the US. (A huge part of which is cultural; otherwise we would not be leading the waistline expansion. However, I also believe that people have the right to eat as badly as they choose and since I'm completely addicted to diet soda, this directly effects me and my pocketbook.) So I was very confused about which way to vote, until I did some research and realized that:

a.) the money is going to budget deficients

b.) it is an incredibly ill written law, in which Snickers are taxed higher than Twix bars

c.) it was really shoe-horned through the legislature.

Write me a consistent law where the money goes to libraries and/or schools and then we'll talk.

I am voting No on 1100 as hard as I possibly can, though. 1100 would privatize hard liquor sales which would most likely increase the ease for minors to get alcohol and (this is why I'm voting no) eliminate hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked for schools. Basically, it would be benefiting costco and other major groceries over Washington's school kids.

Comments

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

There's a lot more, but I'll /end rant. Have you seen a documentary called Food Inc.? Its something everyone needs to watch.

I have not, but I'm aware of a lot of the problems you mentioned. I definitely there needs to be some sort of subsidization going on, so that eating healthy isn't a prohibitively middle-class thing to do.