Suing not allowed

Fast-Food Chains Get a Break Today (Washington Post) notes that

“[t]he Republican-controlled House on Wednesday voted to ban supersize lawsuits that blame the food industry for expanding waistlines and health problems, saying such cases could bankrupt fast-food chains and restaurants.”

I’m sorry, what? I can understand a dislike for specious lawsuits and disengenous plaintiffs claiming they should get a lot of money for ignoring health warnings from not only their own groaning, wheezing, farting, sedentary, and beleaguered bodies, but also the medical industry at large. I’m kind of against people getting money for being stupid.

However.

We do have to consider the effects of a society in which brainwashing in the form of corporate media plays such a large part. Fat of the land is killing more Americans than cigarettes notes the almost unbelievable fact that “Obesity has overtaken smoking as the main cause of death in the United States”.

How is this possible? Are people really just cattle, stuffing themselves with food against all of nature’s warning signs and claxons? Being lazy is, for some reason, a particularly seductive lifestyle, but this kind of directed slow suicide is not rooted simply in laziness or lack of will. Weak-minded people are, every day, being told that eating a lot is cool. Portion sizes are enormous. Every drink is loaded with sugar and caffeine. More is better. Don’t be a fool — walking is for lame-os. Drive!

But, back to the argument put forward by the Rep. Ric Keller, proudly brought to you by “Darden Restaurants Inc., owner of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains.”, a provider of quality family dining in Mr. Keller’s district since who-knows-when.

“The gist of this legislation is there should be common sense in the food court, not blaming other people in the legal court.”

Oh wow. A pun. How clever. So snappy. So sound-bite. So media-friendly and water-cooler quotable.

People are dying of obesity — more Americans every year than from anything else — and he’s making cracks while defending the rights of a corporation that runs hideously unhealthy restaurants over those of all of his constituents. Of those constituents, “Nearly two-thirds of adults and 15 percent of children in the United States are overweight” and those all run an “increased risk of heart disease, stroke and hypertension”.

Note the attitude: any lawsuit of this form is considered frivolous, whether or not it’s valid. Why? Because established portions of the American economy may go out of business in an eerily free-market way. That’s why it’s a joke to say there’s free-market capitalism (or there ever will be): established players will simply buy the legislation that squashes competitions and continues their domination indefinitely. That’s really the only logical result.