Mises Wire

End of the cupcake, and Liberty

End of the cupcake, and Liberty

It has been said that political movements which appear anemic, confined to the corner tables of beer halls and coffee houses, can become juggernauts overnight with the right dose of ideology, and favorable general mood and climate. Certainly history confirms as much.

Today, it starts with the cupcake. You know, the 200 calorie right-of-passage distributed at every elementary birthday party. Add the insatiable appetite of many for collective health and well-being to the requisite general disdain for individual liberty and common sense, and, before you know it, the statist do-gooders will be shoving carrots and celery down the throats of children and their parents. Happy birthday!

Newspapers are now running articles on obesity and cupcakes in schools. That's right, the 200 calorie morsel is the root cause of the supposed obesity crisis. And, forcing children and parents to eat carrots and celery instead is the way to curb the expanding American waistline. That plus a lot of state indoctrination of course.

The localized and uncoordinated movements that are currently hitting just a few schools are about converge with more coordinated efforts coming from public school organizations, local health departments, and über-health nuts. This meeting of the minds -- and collectivist ends -- will create a juggernaut that leads to more than just a ban on cupcakes and similar treats in the classroom. It will lead to the end of personal choice, and Liberty herself.

A little over-the-top you say. Yet, turn the clock back thirty years and realize that no one back then would have believed that smoking would be banned from private businesses and, now, private condos and townhouses.

Therefore, we must guard our Liberties from even seemingly innocuous assaults that occur at the local level, or we will soon find the general mood and climate change as Liberty and Freedom give way to statism and collectivization. And, yes, it all starts with the cupcake.

Note: Of course, in a pure show of hypocrisy, local school board members still toss candy to the kids during parades. That's because the elected officials truly know what's best for kids. Cupcakes in the classroom? Evil! Candy while trolling for votes? Priceless!

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