Puritanism is still with us: It’s just that the behaviors to be disdained have changed.
Here’s an illustration: John Chiang, the California Treasurer, and Harold Goldstein, the executive director of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, have co-authored an opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle that I think bears scrutiny. They correctly note that obesity leads to ill health and urge government action to ensure that we all make proper food choices. From the column, “Waistlines Expand Bottom Line:”
There is no denying that each of us should take personal responsibility for our food choices. But it is fiscally irresponsible to ignore the role our community has in supporting healthy options. Every successful public health movement - from sanitation to air pollution, from drunk driving to tobacco use -has shown that people can only be healthy if public policies are in place to support them in making healthy choices.
That assumes we are helpless to combat our urges without the government’s regulatory involvement. I reject that notion. Regulations for safety are important, to be sure. I support labeling and education efforts. But the trend is toward using “health” as the excuse to tax, regulate, control, and coerce. That makes us less free and more dependent on government—which may be the point. Back to the column:
When grocery stores are replaced by fast-food outlets, the ability of families to make healthy choices becomes more difficult. When vending machines are stocked with sugar-packed snacks and beverages, we further that challenge. When parks and other open spaces are closed off or developed, we’re less likely to be physically active.
Even in tough economic times, smart business people consider their return on investment. Developing walking paths to neighborhood grocery stores and playgrounds and opening city parks to farmers’ markets and other community activities may cost more, but these healthy steps will benefit not only our physical health, but also our fiscal health.
Who’s against farmers’ markets and community activities in city parks?
Unstated by the authors: If people and businesses don’t make the “right” choices, government regulations will force the issues. In other words, health care cost control can easily become a pretext for controlling almost every aspect of our lives.
But here’s the thing: Promiscuous sexual behavior also expands the bottom line of health care, and more quickly than overeating or smoking. Yet, you will never see Chiang or Goldstein advocating that San Francisco or California pass regulations forcing The City’s public sex clubs to close. Nor will government officials here ever promote abstinence or monogamy as an urgent matter of controlling health care costs. That would be too politically explosive.
