One side feels that it isn’t right to approve these laws because it’s the start of losing more and more personal freedoms. The author mentioned a quite that illustrates this as follows, “this is just the beginning: today it’s soda, tomorrow it’s the guy standing behind you making you eat your broccoli, floss your teeth, and watch ‘PBS NewsHour’ every day.” People are fearful of this law evolving into something much more terrifying that will inevitably infringe upon our liberties promised to us by the country in which we reside.
At the same time, Conly makes a valid argument that yes, this law may degrade our liberties, but is actually aiding the good of society as a whole in the long run. This is just one law, and as Conly aptly points out, “banning a law on the grounds that it might lead to worse laws would mean we could have no laws whatsoever.”
We have to look at this issue without leaping to conclusions. People are wary of being controlled, and revel in the feeling that they are in complete control of their lives and have the ability to make the right choices when necessary.
Some data gathered by psychologists and behavioral economists suggest that people are under a “cognitive bias.” For example, we feel that no matter how likely it is for a bad event to occur, it’s less probable that it’ll actually happen to us. (I’m reminded of a quote from one of my favorite TV shows about police, “Bad things happen to other people, not me”). People also are under a “status quo bias,” which essentially culminates the viewpoint of "if it isn’t broke then don’t fix it." If the law currently in effect is operational, then why instate a new one even if this new law is better than its predecessor.
These theories of human behavior listed above, which was proved valid after additional research, wasn’t presented in the most convincing manner by the author. It was difficult to connect them to this specific situation of the “soda law.”
An alternative approach might be to assume that it is the role of the government to provide the greatest amount of good for the most people, with the least amount of cost. Government’s role also is to aid the majority of people from making mistakes in which they might not be aware. This aid might be caused in situations described above or a more common situation: like not noticing a hole in a bridge as you walk across. Essentially, it’s the government’s job to impose rules upon us to, “help us get where we want to go.”
Now, the way our democratic system is set up, the government can’t control every aspect of our lives, like in Kurt Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron. However the government is here to poke and prod us in the right direction.
Helping us make the choice not to consume incessant amounts of sugar will improve society as a whole by keeping us healthy and encouraging more healthy eating habits. As a country, we suffering from an obesity epidemic, as described in many studies
As much as people hate it, sometimes we need to be told what to do so that we don’t end up hurting ourselves.