Trans Fatso
So I caught my favourite news show last night - "The Agenda" - and it was all about trans fats and the very obvious fact that they should be banned by our federal government and the food industry made to adapt accordingly in one of those, "Okay, you got away with it for a while and now the ride is over" pieces of legislation that will have 'em howling until they stop howling and we no longer have trans fats shoved down our throats by the food industry.
I believe the words "No Brainer" were used by all of the guests save one.
Yes. You've guessed right. There was a Fraser Institooter on the program.
I know, I know. You're thinking, "But the Fraser Institute is a well-known partisan waste dump for simple minds, Sooey! Why would "The Agenda" have a talking head from the Fraser Institute on its show defending the right of consumers to choose trans-fat over non-trans fat when even children know by now that they don't really have any choice at all but are eating trans fats because that's all there is in fast food - trans fats."
I don't know, Dear Reader. Some people, I guess, still believe the Fraser Institute's own P.R. - that it is a "think tank" and not just a bunch o' goofs who get a lot of free public air time to state their libertarian views.
Anyway, it was pretty funny listening to a libertarian Fraser Institooter argue on behalf of the right of consumers to choose to eat trans fat when, until very recently, we didn't even know that's what we were choosing. I mean, there's choice and then there's "Oh, by the way, we've poisoned the food supply with trans fat to make food taste... worse for your health... so choose to eat it or choose not to eat it - the choice is up to you."
I mean, really. It is to laugh. Not that libertarian arguments coming from think tankers aren't generally pretty mockable. "Yeah. Good luck finding something useful to trade for food and shelter when the government is only responsible for the supplying us with an army, dude."
In any case, just when I thought the think tanker was pretty much over, argument-wise, one of the guests made the point that trans fats are not just bad for your health, but they're bad for the economy because obesity (one result of too much trans fat consumption) has a direct impact on our healthcare system.
Gasp! You could almost here the "Oo, Oo, I know the answer to that one!" coming from Calgary where the think tanker was phoning it in to the old Studio Two. Except the answer, when it came, wasn't the clean swipe I'd anticipated at "socialized medicine" but rather an uneven chop at everything leading up to it, "We'll look after you when you're sick, but only if it's something that's not your own fault. Which would not include the eating of trans fat - since that's your choice - fat kid."
It was hard to argue with that one, I guess. At least, it seemed to be, since the other guests mostly didn't - the argument being too banal for them to register. Me, I was left trying to figure out what size healthcare bureaucracy would be needed to ascertain what was the patient's own fault and what was the fault of society - speaking of libertarianism gone wild. And, as always, one can't help but think of the children and so I thought, "There is plenty of evidence to indicate that fast food/trans fats may, in fact, be addictive. And what choice do children have if Mom and Dad insist on bringing home cheap fast food every night for supper? It's cheap, it's fast, and it's food. And until very recently, who knew it was poison?"
But I was so surprised that the Fraser Institooter didn't simply say, "That's why the Fraser Institoot doesn't support the concept of a publicly funded healthcare system accessible to all Canadians", that I was put in mind of a conversation I'd had just the other day with a wealthy American. He was asking about our healthcare system in very general terms and seemed almost prostrate with shock at the very idea that everyone (except our political elite, it would seem) uses the same healthcare system and it's all (mostly) covered by our tax dollars. What shocked him was that rich people were sharing the same services afforded to not rich people. He couldn't believe it. "You mean to tell me, Sooey. That if I walked into a hospital, I would be treated the same as..." And here I cut him off to say, "As me. You would be treated the same as me."
Now, this old guy likes me - a lot - we have great political discussions on the phone, but he knows how much money I make and, well, to say he was speechless would be an understatement. In fact, he may be dead. That conversation may have killed him. I haven't heard from him today and usually he calls by noon..
Anyway, I like him - a lot, too - but boy, it was funny to hear the shock in his voice over that one. I didn't mention our political elite's visits down south, the private clinics, etc - I wanted to bask in our superiour civilization for a while. Such as it is, anyway. Where he lives, New York City, they've banned trans fats as of July 2008.
Where we live, I guess it's a matter of convincing our government - which, sadly (and there was no way I was admitting this to an American) takes its cues from the Fraser Institoot - of the "No Brainer" in banning trans fats.
