Add your fridge to the long list of places Creepy Uncle Sam wants to lurk.
Recently, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced legislation to penalize Americans who drink soda and other sugary drinks. The Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax (SWEET) Act would create a new national tax on drinks based on their sugar content – and use the proceeds to fund Obamacare.
{mosads}This effort comes on the heels of many other nanny-state policies designed to tell Americans what’s good for us (as if we can’t figure it out on our own). States and localities across the country are prohibiting everything from food trucks to craft beer to Uber out of their “concern” for our “safety” or some lofty notion of the greater good.
In New York City, you can’t buy a Big Gulp. In Massachusetts and Vermont, soccer players are mandated to wear mouth guards despite repeated protests by players that they can’t talk (or breathe) well while playing with them. Everywhere we look, politicians are trying to prevent us from making choices for ourselves – and my generation hates it: A recent poll by the Reason Foundation found that only 5 percent of young Americans support the ban on selling sugary drinks. The same poll found that Millennials oppose efforts to prohibit trans fats, food trucks, alcohol, and plastic bags in grocery stores.
But our concern with laws like these extends much further beyond simply being free to choose what we can eat and drink. The sad truth is that our government officials’ liberal crusade is rooted in much more than their misguided belief that they know what’s best for us. At the heart of these policies lays an inherent opposition to the free market principles that make our nation – and, particularly, my generation – exceptionally great.
All around us, we see examples of the government’s efforts to stifle competition and entrepreneurship under the façade of nanny-state policies. Just last month, the Commonwealth of Virginia issued a cease and desist order to Uber and Lyft, two of the fastest-growing ride-sharing companies in the nation. Government regulators claim these services aren’t held to the same safety and quality standards as traditional taxi services—never mind that every single driver is rated for quality by every single rider and that real-time location tracking of each ride provides extra assurance of safety.
My generation places our faith in our own problem-solving ability rather than the government’s top-down approach. Millennials strongly believe that we are in control of our own lives, and we favor meritocracy over enforced egalitarianism. We view profit and competition positively, with 55 percent of young Americans reporting the ambition to start their own business. The idea that government would stand in the way of innovations like Uber is ridiculous to young Americans, and this distaste for government meddling will inevitably bleed into larger sectors of the economy such as education and health care.
Why should we trust traditional public schools and universities when we’ve seen innovations like Khan Academy and massive open online courses available to millions of students? Why should we expect government bureaucrats to centrally plan a health care system better than thousands of entrepreneurs from Silicon Valley and other technology hubs?
Members of the emerging freedom generation want more control over our own lives—we know we can use our freedoms to drive progress. My peers want more choices, because with those choices we can create more opportunity for everyone.
Politicians in Washington can debate how much sugar we should have in our soda in the name of social welfare, but my generation recognizes that their efforts are designed to stifle the free market and our trademark entrepreneurial spirit.
While these bureaucrats are busy thinking of ways to control the American public, my generation is aspiring to create the next Facebook, the next Uber, and new platforms to revolutionize education and healthcare.
Millennials don’t need a nanny. We need politicians who will put their faith and trust in the ingenuity of our generation.
Feinberg, 30, is the president of Generation Opportunity, a youth advocacy organization.