A Blow for Freedom

A Blow for Freedom
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
– P. J. O'Rourke
- March 3rd, 2012 -


This past Wednesday, a federal judge declared that an FDA directive that forced tobacco companies to display graphic color images on packs of cigarettes was unconstitutional.  In administering a richly deserved bitch slap to the nanny-state bureaucrats in the Administration, District Court Judge Richard J. Leon wrote “Although an interest in informing or educating the public about the dangers of smoking might be compelling, an interest in simply advocating that the public not purchase a legal product is not.”


Well said.  Naturally, the Justice Department signaled their intent to appeal.  Apparently on the grounds that their knowledge of what’s best for the American people shouldn’t be abrogated by that nettlesome document known as the U.S. Constitution.  Liberal moral-superiority run amok. 


This preemptive government power grab came about as a result of the passage of the Orwellian-monikered Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009.  This was one of many big government measures rammed through by Democrats – surprise, surprise – when they held all the levers of power before revulsed voters took away their car keys in 2010.   


As Judge Leon further noted, the FDA fell off the beam precisely because their regulations were “neither designed to protect the consumer from confusion or deception, nor to increase consumer awareness of smoking risks; rather they were crafted to evoke a strong emotional response calculated to provoke the viewer to quit or never start smoking.”  Not sure how Justice is going to refute this.  “Calculated to provoke” is pretty much the raison d’être of this Administration.


Besides, if these images are okay, where does it stop?  Pictures of car wrecks on beer cans?  Photos of the morbidly obese on Twinkies wrappers?  Images of unemployment lines on Democratic bumper stickers?  It’s a slippery slope indeed.  Who knows what they have next in their crosshairs?  Because with this Administration, it’s pretty safe to assume that where there’s smoke, there’s fire …