The Angry Young Man

Last night, the House of Representatives voted to abolish state food safety label laws. You know, the labels on food that warn you that they contain ingredients that will ultimately kill you. Here's who voted by the way. Being a Californian, where those laws are at their strictest, I'm pretty pissed off. Here's the logic behind this move -

"There is no reason nor is there any excuse to allow regulatory inconsistency to drive up costs and keep some consumers in the dark on matters that may affect their health," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga.

So, instead, we'll keep ALL consumers in the dark by forcing the citizens of civilized states like California to lower themselves to the knuckledragging, mouth breathing level of, say, North Dakota. Um, yeah, that's logic. Clearly it's a plot to turn every American into a planet with hair.

I find it terribly ironic, if not at all surprising, that a party that seems to be so pro-federalism is willing to back right away from those principles when their corporate overlords order them to. Food labeling too expensive? Gee, how about the health care costs associated with a lifetime of eating toxic waste filled processed food sludge? How are consumers in a free market supposed to make informed decisions about the products they buy when you refuse them the right to even know what’s in them? Hah?! Completely unbelievable.