Apparently our city government has developed a taste for banning things. Scandalously delicious things. Things you must be told are bad for you.
Things like fat.
Yes, we’re too dang fat and the City Council is going to do something about it, dul gurn it. According to today’s Tribune, Chicago Alderman Edward Burke wants to ban restaurants from using “artery-clogging trans fat.”
Banning usually starts out with the best of intentions, showing up at your front door like a well-groomed teenager ringing for your daughter. Two hours later, you peer out the front window and see the ban swerving uncontrollably down the street as though it’s been hijacked by eight-year-olds. You catch your daughter’s eye in the passenger seat, and she stares back as if to say, “how could you.”
(That metaphor got away from me a bit.)
First, the city banned the use of a cell phone while driving without a headset. Great. Then, after much hand-wringing, the city sort of banned smoking in public, and hooray for that overdue development.
Here’s where things get a little kooky. Suddenly foie gras falls on the chopping block. A few months later, trans fat squirms (or jiggles) in the crosshairs.
I appreciate the government protecting me from people who might kill me because they’re too busy dialing on their cell phones instead of watching the road. I appreciate the effort to remove the cancer-causing smoke from the restaurant and bar we all want to enjoy.
I’m not certain I appreciate the move to decide what goes in my penne alla vodka. (Mmm, penne alla vodka…)
Mayor Daley:
“How far should government go? How far should the City Council go? Let’s talk about health. Let’s talk about people working out. Let’s talk about good eating habits, but not to start outlawing and telling every company what they should be doing.”
Word.