I’m starting to wonder how much Austrian is in the "Austrian Oak" — apparently Arnold Schwarzenegger actually believes that Californians no longer should have the freedom to choose whether they want to be healthy, or unhealthy in what they eat.
I was shocked and dismayed when last Friday he actually signed legislation "banning" trans fats in the preparation of food in restaurants.
It is hard for me to fathom what changes have come over this man, who once introduced libertarian economist Milton Freedman on a video, that he would think that the government should be regulating the food options (and ingredients) available to us.
Using the very same logic that the Governor used in signing this terrible bill, it would appear that if Democrats in the legislature put a bill banning the serving of ice cream — or maybe just desserts as an entire catagory — that he would sign it.
The bill that he signed, AB 97, was passed out of the State Senate with NO Republican votes at all. In the State Assembly, two Republicans voted for it. Bonnie Garcia, of course, who embraced this kind of big-government bill a couple of years back (don’t ask me why she doesn’t believe that people have a right to be unhealthy). The other Republican who voted for AB 93 was, oddly, Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian. This is very confusing. Aghazarian is in a competitive race for the State Senate this year, and voting for a bill like this muddies the water as he tries to make the case that he supports a smaller role for government, and his opponent doesn’t. It is very odd that he doesn’t support the right of Californians to eat what they want to eat.
It is becoming less surprising, however, that the Governor continues to sign legislation that is overwhelmingly opposed by legislators from his own party. The Governor has attempted to grossly mischaracterize this kind of action as "post-partisan" — which it is not. Signing bills that increase the size of government, and restrict the individual freedom and liberty of the people — that’s just being a liberal.
Look, I appreciate it every time the Governor does something that Republicans actually believe in. But I realize that as any potential issue comes up, I really have no clue what he is going to do until he says so, but neither does anyone else. And the Governor apparently thinks that is a good thing. And even then, I find myself playing a game of setting low expectations to avoid being disappointed by his extreme inconsistency.
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