Nanny State Food Police in San Francisco and the Sugary Drink Ban

by the Left Coast Rebel

For the fact that I am currently in the vacation-umbrella of a state and area that respects liberty and loathes the nanny state, I almost missed this story hailing from San Francisco:

Under an executive order from Mayor Gavin Newsom, Coke, Pepsi and Fanta Orange are no longer allowed in vending machines on city property, although their diet counterparts are - up to a point.

Newsom's directive, issued in April but whose practical impacts are starting to be felt now, bars calorically sweetened beverages from vending machines on city property.

That includes non-diet sodas, sports drinks and artificially sweetened water. Juice must be 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice with no added sweeteners. Diet sodas can be no more than 25 percent of the items offered, the directive says.

Being that this ban takes place on 'government' property, the legality is probably not in question. But like every nanny state absurdity that hails from the People's Republic of California it comes d own to an issue of common sense and personal responsibility, of which there is none any more here (or there, rather, since I am in a state that isn't a liberal-statist nanny state).

If I were mayor of San Fran. and this idea came across my desk my response would be quite simple.

First: It's the responsibility of the individual and parent to control sugar intake and diet.

And even more importantly: What the hell is this, we're broke!

Can you imagine this machine at right being banned 50-60 years ago, even in San Francisco?

Dreaming of the 1950s when our country hadn't gone insane...