#5- Student Choice- I Like Big Cokes and I Cannot Lie...

With all of the problems in our country today- poverty, unemployment, the mortgage crisis, a recession, it's amusing to me that the Mayor of New York City decided to place a ban on the sale of super sized drinks.  Since when is it OK for the government to tell restaurants that the drinks they sell must be 16 ounces or smaller? Yes too many of us are overweight.  Yes sugary drinks are bad for our health.  I am in no way saying that our country does not have a serious problem with obesity, but my problem with this ban is that the government is telling citizens of New York City what they can and cannot buy and they should have the freedom to choose. I've never been to New York.  Do they allow people to have free refills like they do in the south?  If so, 16 ounces will quickly turn into 32 ounces.  I'm pretty sure refills defeat the purpose of the 16 ounce cups.

Isn't it MY decision what I put into MY body?  If you're going to ban sugary drinks please go ahead and ban cigarettes.  Aren't they worse for your health?  Drinking a sugary drink only affects MY body, where smoking a cigarette effects all of those around the smoker and their bodies.  I guess the money the government makes from taxes off of the cigarettes outweighs their health risks.

I don't know about you, but I love a Route 44 Sonic Diet Coke. There's just something about that Sonic ice.  If someone told me I couldn't buy one, I'd be fighting mad.  I'm a teacher.  I talk all day.  On the weekends, I'm horse from all the shaping of young minds.  Don't tell me I can't find some relief from a 20 ounce drink to soothe my tender throat so that by Monday I'll be ready to teach again.  Isn't it my basic right to go to a restaurant and buy whatever size drink I want without someone else telling me I can't?  What can I say?  I like big drinks and I cannot lie. 

This new ruling is just one more reason why I'm glad I live in Sweet Home Alabama.  We may be #4 on the list of most obese states, but we have the freedom to make our own drink choices, at least for now.  Let's hope that our country doesn't slide down the slippery slope of more regulations on our basic freedoms.