NEWSLETTER -- Number 1, August 19, 2004

The Portable Craig Westover
Number 1, August 19, 2004

FATTER GOVERNMENT DOESN’T MAKE FOR THINNER MINNESOTANS

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Minnesota Health Department is planning to hire a “obesity prevention coordinator. Making a fiscal argument, the an editorial on the subject declared that “hiring of a Health obesity coordinator can push the state in the right direction [on obesity].”

My August 18 column in the Pioneer Press, “Government obesity is preventable,” I make the point that before one swallows the fiscal argument, one should examine the ingredients of that claim -- specifically the progressive fallacy that everyone is somehow responsible for everyone else’s eating habits. Making obesity a public health problem will not render Minnesotans fat free, only less free.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/9425333.htm

A related theme is found in “Who’ll stop the sunshine,” a parody of smoking ban advocates, published in the Pioneer Press July 21.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/9199918.htm

MET COUNCIL AUTHORITY GOES TOO FAR --- AGAIN

The Minnesota Supreme Court recently affirmed the authority of the Metropolitan Council to make communities, like maverick Lake Elmo, conform to the Council’s regional development plan, regardless of a community’s own ideas about its character and vision of the future.

In my August 12 column, I wrote that confirmation of the Met Council’s authority to mandate adherence to a central regional plan makes individuals the means to the Council’s ends. The freedom to choose an individual lifestyle must now be sacrificed to achieve “smart growth.” And the truly sad part is that good people who support the Met Council position really believe that coercion for the common good is somehow a middle ground between totalitarianism and freedom.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/editorial/9375183.htm

Thanks for reading and whether you agree or disagree with me, I appreciate your feedback. Email me at westover4@yahoo.com, or if you’re so inclined, drop an email to the Pioneer Press and express you own opinion (http://us.f135.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?&To=letters@pioneerpress.com). I know from experience that even if your letter isn’t published, it makes an impression. Also, let me know if there are others you’d like to add to this list.

Best --

Craig Westover
westover4@yahoo.com