NYC Large sugary drink ban proposed

Yeah, God forbid Americans learned any lessons from countries who have stayed slim by spending tax money on building SIDEWALKS so people don't have to drive everywhere, or MANDATING physical education in schools, or REGULATING fast food advertising... A socialist nightmare! (That just happens to result in people being healthier, happier, and more productive!)

Most cities/towns are way more spread out than what people in other parts of the world are used to. I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the majority of my life and the closest thing that sold food was a mile away. There are sidewalks but nobody uses them. It's not because we're lazy, it's because we don't want to spend 2 damn hours walking to the mall.

Also, regulating advertising is regulating freedom of speech. Something most Americans are against

Right, but I didn't say Americans were lazy. My point was that they are made fat by their environment and the food and activity incentives and opportunities around them. Town planning is something that (can be) influenced and regulated by governments, so that walking to a nearby shop to buy fresh produce is something that is available to everyone.

And as for freedom of speech, most people accept that it is not unlimited. Speech that harms or deliberately misleads the vulnerable (e.g. marketing fast food to children using their favourite cartoon characters) is fair game in my eyes.

Tulsa was not intended to be as big of a city as it is or as residential as it is. It was primarily for the oil industry. Have you ever lived in an American city? The way they are composed is usually blocks of residential area with small pockets of retail. It isn't like here in the UK where there is a small grocery store on nearly every street.

Anyways, I'm pretty most cities were planned way before there was such an obesity epidemic. Your suggestion is fine for new city planning, but kind of pointless for the majority of existing communities.

And no, people are made fat by eating too much food. Believe it or not, nobody forces you to eat McDonalds for your three meals a day.

I think it's another bull**** step by government... People must choose for themselves wether or not to be healthy... They'll just by smaller soda's and drink more of them... What's next, King Mike makes everybody exercise?

Yeah, God forbid Americans learned any lessons from countries who have stayed slim by spending tax money on building SIDEWALKS so people don't have to drive everywhere, or MANDATING physical education in schools, or REGULATING fast food advertising... A socialist nightmare! (That just happens to result in people being healthier, happier, and more productive!)

Most cities/towns are way more spread out than what people in other parts of the world are used to. I lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for the majority of my life and the closest thing that sold food was a mile away. There are sidewalks but nobody uses them. It's not because we're lazy, it's because we don't want to spend 2 damn hours walking to the mall.

Also, regulating advertising is regulating freedom of speech. Something most Americans are against

Right, but I didn't say Americans were lazy. My point was that they are made fat by their environment and the food and activity incentives and opportunities around them. Town planning is something that (can be) influenced and regulated by governments, so that walking to a nearby shop to buy fresh produce is something that is available to everyone.

And as for freedom of speech, most people accept that it is not unlimited. Speech that harms or deliberately misleads the vulnerable (e.g. marketing fast food to children using their favourite cartoon characters) is fair game in my eyes.

Tulsa was not intended to be as big of a city as it is or as residential as it is. It was primarily for the oil industry. Have you ever lived in an American city? The way they are composed is usually blocks of residential area with small pockets of retail. It isn't like here in the UK where there is a small grocery store on nearly every street.

Anyways, I'm pretty most cities were planned way before there was such an obesity epidemic. Your suggestion is fine for new city planning, but kind of pointless for the majority of existing communities.

And no, people are made fat by eating too much food. Believe it or not, nobody forces you to eat McDonalds for your three meals a day.

Yes, and the OP was talking about soft drinks, one of the only food products directly linked with obesity. My point with the example of sidewalks and PE regulation was that government can have a role in making a healthy lifestyle easier and more accesible to us all.

What ever happened to PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY!

It is NOT the governments job to regulate what and how much we eat! If I want to overeat, having a ban on x-large soda is not going to stop me...nor will it stop anyone else.

Get the governement out of my life...if I wanted the governement to control it, I will just go live in a communist country!

What is next? ...x-large bags of candy, big macs, whoppers, large pizza with toppings,etc....????

My weight is none of the government's business.

I find it incredibly disturbing that there are so many replies in support of this. I cannot fathom how any thinking human being could possibly be anything but outraged by the suggestion.

Our government does not exist in order to dictate (note intentional word choice) how individuals live their lives. Beyond upholding/enforcing the law-- and even many of those have gotten completely out of control-- in order to ensure a reasonable degree of safety for its citizens, the government has no business in our personal lives-- and what I choose to drink or eat is pretty damn personal. It's just another step toward making everyone so damned dependent on the government that no one can even remember how to function on their own. Not to mention how disgusting it is that this is even being brought up given the current state of the economy and job market.

Yeah, God forbid Americans learned any lessons from countries who have stayed slim by spending tax money on building SIDEWALKS so people don't have to drive everywhere, or MANDATING physical education in schools, or REGULATING fast food advertising... A socialist nightmare! (That just happens to result in people being healthier, happier, and more productive!)

We've had government-mandated physical education in schools since the 1960s, dude. And I walk everywhere in my city. On sidewalks.

PE in schools is regulated at State level

"In its first report since 2000, the National Association for Sport and Physical Education gave states and the federal government a failing grade on physical education in the American school system. Noting that no federal law requires that physical education be offered in schools or provides any incentive for physical education programs, the report says states too are dodging the issue, with many setting some general or minimum requirements but delegating responsibility for meeting those standards to individual school districts. "

http://www.healthinschools.org/News-Room/EJournals/Volume-7/Number-4/The-Shape-of-the-Nations-Children.aspx

And I'm glad your city has invested in sidewalks. Not all do.

http://www2.tbo.com/news/life/2011/aug/04/rural-areas-lack-of-sidewalks-fueling-obesity-prob-ar-247686/

Because public education is regulated at the state level. And rightly so, as we are the United States of America. It's not an accident.

As a previous poster said, you can't legislate common sense. And trying is (a) stupid (b) a waste of energy and resources (most notably my tax money) and (c) never going to be effective. Frankly, I'm not even sure I think PE should be mandated at that level. Forget that you can't really force someone to exercise, how about that a government shouldn't? "Give me liberty or give me death" and all of that? All of this removal of personal responsibility and initiative is what creates the attitude of entitlement that has become so prevalent. When the government decides we're all idiots who can't even make our own food choices, we'll slowly begin to act like idiots as we can expect Uncle Sam to make our every choice and provide for our every need. I've never been to the UK, but I can tell you for sure that the majority of Americans value liberty more than this.