MORON OF THE MONTH, FEBRUARY

Today we are beginning a new feature for this blog. It is to be called the “Moron of the Month”. It is my opinion that I will have many candidates to choose from each month but I would welcome any suggestions from you. If you do offer a particular moron for this feature, just let me know and give me a few good reasons why they should be so honored. I will be happy to do the research and report to you their qualifications for this blog.

Today however, I select Mayor Bloomberg of New York City. You may remember that recently he was at the forefront in an attempt to legislate the type of cooking oil a private citizen/chef could use in the preparation of foods in his own restaurant. This essay chooses not to debate the value or the harm caused by any cooking oil. It chooses instead to report the usurpation of the freedom of choice. Bloomberg’s latest fiasco? He has now declared war on salt. You heard me, salt. It apparently is his opinion that salt is detrimental to your health so therefore government must intrude and take care of you. You, the private free citizens of the great city of New York, are not capable of deciding for yourself what you should or should not eat or in what amount you should consume it. What the Mayor has decided is that he should be the arbiter of all things healthy and unhealthy.

So what you are telling us, Mr. Mayor, is that of all the problems facing your city, too much salt is what you wish to concentrate on. Never mind that you have run away crime and illegal aliens feeding at the public trough. Never mind that traffic movement in New York City is a joke. Never mind that you have the highest taxes of any city of any size in the country. No, it is much better that you put your energy into controlling the intake of salt in the diets of the free citizens of your city.

Bloomberg was originally elected as a Republican but has since converted to become an Independent. It would appear to me that a more appropriate affiliation might be Socialist.

I have a few questions for the Mayor and those who think like him. Number one, what part of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, do you not understand? Do you really believe that being elected Mayor is license to become the Mommy and Daddy of the residents of New York City? Once again I am not debating the health benefits or the problems with salt. No, this is much more important than diet choices. This is about the very basic freedom of American citizens to be left alone and protected from the intrusion of government into their lives.

As for me, I would never consider living in New York or even visiting for that matter. So the question is why would anyone else care what happens in that particular cesspool? Why do I? The reason is simple. If Bloomberg pulls off the legislative control of salt in the diets of New Yorkers, it will just be a short time until it will be tried in other parts of the country. We are losing our basic freedoms at an alarming rate in the name of what’s good for us. Listen up Mayor Bloomberg, neither you nor anyone of your ilk is in any position to decide what is best for me. I will make those choices for myself. If I choose to eat salt by the bucketfuls, that is my choice. If I choose to drink cooking oils by the gallon, that is also my decision. Butt out.

I have reported but a couple of reasons I chose Mayor Bloomberg as this blog’s first Moron of the Month. As we go forward, I will be on the look out for the next qualified candidate, and believe me there are many. Consider if you will the Wall Street executives who paid themselves huge bonuses from the bail-out money. No this will be an easy task. Please offer your suggestions as you have them and stay tuned.

Ron Scarbro February 3, 2009