Mayor Michael Bloomberg is continuing his quest to turn all New Yorkers into health-obsessed automatons by limiting our boozey ways, having already placed strict limitations on smoking and eating things that taste good.
Bloomberg wants to cut the number of establishments in the city that can sell alcohol—plus his administration has introduced initiatives to curtail liquor advertising in subway cars and buses.
As usual, these proposals take something that could be admirable and go about it completely the wrong way. Banning and negativity are not how government should be going about trying to help people. Providing positive reinforcement and aid are.
If the mayor is worried about safety, maybe he should promote safe ride initiatives so people can get home without having to find (and pay for) a cab that is willing to take a drunk passenger. Or perhaps he should be putting more money toward improving city-run free addiction counseling services for the people who do actually have a problem.
We’ve already tried the Prohibition thing. During the 13 years when the sale of alcohol was illegal in the United States, people didn’t stop drinking. They just went underground with it, making booze in their bathtubs and opening speakeasies. That meant that the product being sold was not regulated for the safety of its contents, and that access and pricing could lead to violent crimes.
While he’s not proposing an all-out ban on alcohol, this is still a nanny-state-style unnecessary regulation. New York is on par with the rest of the country, having 1 in 6 adults who binge drink. People are going to do that whether or not the number or bars and liquor stores is reduced—Bloomberg’s plan won’t actually make people drink less.
If there’s so much concern about advertising for alcohol, maybe they should also look into the ads for major surgery (like the lap band). It seems disingenuous to imply that it’s safer to mutilate your internal organs than to enjoy a cold brewsky. Besides, if you’re seeing the ad on the subway, chances are you won’t be driving after you drink, which is where a lot of the dangers are.
Maybe Bloomberg should focus on unemployment and poverty, fix the food desert problem or brush up on the First Amendment instead of constantly policing his constituents’ preferred vices.
[Via New York Post]
