The Editor's Desk

Tuesday’s editorial will be my commentary about the state Senate bill mandating changes in school food options to make them healthier. I’m coming to the issue from a libertarian perspective, so you can imagine the giant eye-roll I’m directing at the matter.

But I do want to add that healthy eating is actually an important issue to me. I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes (caught while still fairly mild) last November and have had to make major changes to my lifestyle. Like many adults who spend a lot of time working, I didn’t pay much attention to what I was putting in my body, relying on fast food and soda to keep me going during the day.

I never at any point in this reevaluation of my eating habits would have expected (or for that matter, allowed) the government to make these changes for me. Why on earth would I do that? They don’t know me. They don’t have to deal with the consequences. They don’t have to care whether the advice they give me is accurate. They won’t be the ones to go blind or suffer permanent nerve damage.

When the news of New York City’s trans fat ban hit the wire, I thought to myself, “Why would people allow this?” Then I read one harried businesswoman say she was glad about the ban because it meant one less thing she’d have to think or worry about.

That comment from her sent shivers up my spine. I would never, ever surrender my decision-making rights to a gaggle of government bureaucrats, even if it meant I would have to take responsibility for my own stupid decisions.

It’s interesting how nature has its own way of keeping you in check. I went blind in one eye for a nerve-wracking 30 minutes last year while at work; this incident was what ultimately led to the diagnosis. Going blind is one of my greatest fears, probably even greater than dying. Mother nature couldn’t have figured out a bigger incentive to cause me to change my behavior. The government certainly couldn’t.

And it worked. I’ve lost 20 pounds, all because I wanted to change my behavior, not because the government did my thinking for me.