Sanford D. Horn: Should the obese fatten the government budget?
Plucking obese children from their parents is the ultimate in “nanny-statism.”
Dr. David Ludwig, an obesity specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston and Lindsey Murtagh, an attorney and researcher with Harvard’s School of Public Health, want to extract obese children from their homes and away from their parents for a government intervention.
Ludwig and Murtagh want to place these children in foster care, as if that system is without fault. Should the anorexic be removed from their homes as well? How about the bulimic? How about those with ADHD? What about children who refuse to study? Where should the line be drawn?
This is the same government running a perpetually failing postal system, AMTRAK, motor vehicle departments and public schools at federal, state and local levels. This is another example of an overreaching government exerting their kung-fu grip on the American people. The continuing notion that government can better raise our children should put fear in our hearts and minds not unlike that of Nazi Germany.
Government is partially responsible for the rise in childhood obesity. Examine the fat-laden school lunches and now breakfasts shoved down the throats of low-income students. How many schools have eliminated physical education, extra-curricular sports and other exercise-based activities in the name of budget cuts? Society will pay the piper regarding the rising cost of health care and dependency upon Medicare and Medicaid.
Also consider the numerous teens unable to secure part-time and/or summer employment. The overrun of illegal aliens storming our borders to “do the jobs Americans won’t do,” the oft-repeated mantra of many turning a blind eye to the epidemic of illegal immigration, keeps ever-fattening teens on the couch.
Make no mistake; parents also must carry the weight of irresponsibility for stuffing their children with fast food and allowing them to lounge around playing video games or enjoying faux lives on-line.
Here’s an idea for a job creator: parenting school. Folks need licenses to drive, teach, work as accountants, electricians and plumbers, but not the most vital of all jobs – parenting.
Yes, the American people have a collective obesity problem, but so too does the government who instead of cutting its own fat, wants to add more bureaucracy and spend more money it does not have on programs that will ultimately fail like their numerous predecessors. Stop spending tax-payer money on public school diversity manuals as in Nebraska and get the children into the gym.
Sanford D. Horn is an educator and writer living in Westfield, Ind.
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Mr. Horn tries the all-too-typical tactic, made by both sides of the political spectrum, of taking one egregious comment from a single person, and attributing it to the entire mindset of the chosen target, in this case, “the government.”
According to a CBS News story of July 14:
“Harvard University child obesity expert Dr. David Ludwig’s recent claim that some parents should lose custody of their severely obese children has sparked outrage among families and professionals across the country. The national outcry led one family to share how its personal experience with the matter damaged their lives.”
So there we are… a brief news-bite summary of the opinion of one person, roundly criticized by people across the country has now been magically transformed by Mr. Horn into the policy of “the government.”
A perfect straw man argument.
For extra measure, in case he doesn’t yet have our attention, he also trots out the “Nazi Germany” comparison here too.
His creativity doesn’t stop there… This is the first time I’ve seen illegal immigrants blamed for the childhood obesity of Americans. I’d be interested to see a blackboard diagram for that stream of logic.
I’m guessing Mr. Horn is being ironic when he said:
“Here’s an idea for a job creator: parenting school. Folks need licenses to drive, teach, work as accountants, electricians and plumbers, but not the most vital of all jobs – parenting.”
…Since requiring a government license for having a child seems kinda…oh, I dunno… like Nazi Germany? Oops I trotted out Nazi Germany myself.
Hopefully, we as a united country will someday be able to come together and discuss the problems intelligently, without hyperbole, demonization or undue silly rhetoric. Until then, I guess we can just send our children out into the fields to pick beets, as Mr. Horn suggests.
An Alexandria magistrate issued an arrest warrant for Sanford D. Horn today for willful failure to file a campaign finance report.
http://www.alexandrianews.org/2011/12/alexandria-magistrate-issues-arrest-warrant-for-former-school-board-candidate/