A red letter day was celebrated by social engineers everywhere on July 29 as both San Francisco and Los Angeles proudly and loudly celebrated the "liberal fascism" that defines both cities. San Francisco passed legislation that forbids pharmacies from selling tobacco products while Los Angeles banned new fast food outlets from the poor part of town, each city self-righteously stroking itself as a purveyor of "progressive" politics that puts people before profits. In reality each is an example of liberal fascism (stored), a political philosophy exposed by Jonah Golberg in his blockbuster by the same name. Certainly the rulers of both cities regard themselves as intellectually, morally and spiritually superior to their subjects, who are judged to be weak, lazy and sadly ignorant of the path to earthly salvation espoused by their betters. The governing classes of both cities, however, would recoil from any notion that their edicts are artfully deceptive forays into fascism.
One of fascism’s traits is the mingling of government and corporations. The San Francisco tobacco ban illustrates that component of fascism quite eloquently. The drive to eliminate tobacco sales from pharmacies has been ongoing for several years. Pharmaceutical front groups, operating under the guise of grass-roots activism, have been hectoring the large pharmacies such as Walgreens and Rite Aid voluntarily to remove tobacco from their stores. Not surprisingly the pharmacies have resisted a scheme that would reduce their profits. When "soft" persuasion didn’t work, Big Drugs hauled out the heavy artillery and applied force to further its goal of cornering the nicotine market.
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will force the pharmacies to remove tobacco products from the shelf. The shelves that contain the bright packs of cigarettes will most likely be turned over completely to the dust-gathering, stop-smoking nostrums currently sharing shelf space over the checkout counter with the constantly replenished smokes. The competition will have been banished by law.
That the pharmacies will suffer financially is of no concern to Big Drugs. The pharmaceutical corporations know their third-rate products will not experience a jump in sales once the cigarettes have been removed. Removal from pharmacy shelves is only a step in the process of removing tobacco from grocery and convenience stores then eventually from society completely. Only then will pharmaceutical nicotine, the only game in town, perhaps attract consumers. Or – more likely – contraband will thrive.
Meanwhile two legal businesses, tobacco manufacturers and drug stores, will bow to the financial goals of Big Drugs, the corporate entity that dictates policy to craven, corrupt or ignorant politicians. The Third Reich’s partnership with IG Farben was beneficial to both sides. The Western countries have the multi-national pharmaceutical corporations but at this time it’s impossible to determine which "partner" is on top.
The crackdown on fast food joints in Los Angeles lacks the overt corporate sponsorship on display in San Francisco but is a stunning example of the liberal fascism that is plaguing the United States. The Los Angeles City Council decreed that South Los Angeles, a 32 square mile area of 500,000 inhabitants, is a section of the city that contains far too many fat people. These tubbies are obviously too stupid to make their own decisions so the elitists on the council will make their eating decisions for them. Banning new fast food outlets is only the first step. The one-year moratorium with a possible one-year extension will give the council time "to craft measures to lure sit-down restaurants serving healthier food to a part of the city that desperately wants more of them."
Actually the southern part of the city doesn’t desperately want more restaurants serving the "healthier" food, as defined by the council. If it did, demand would bring in the sort of restaurants pleasing to the LA City Council. When populations don’t want what elitists believe it should want, namely a light salad and a tofu sandwich, liberal fascism comes into play and legislative force is imposed. Government becomes the club to bludgeon politically-incorrect corporations and their customers. The poor people who can’t afford "healthy" restaurants will have to make their "junk" food at home.
California is, as always, in the forefront in eliminating choice and personal freedom. It is now embarking in a big way on shaping business to perform as the rulers command. Unless stopped (a dubious proposition in these apathetic times?), Californians can look forward to a time when their wants and needs are subordinate to a ruling elite and the corporations that serve that elite while enriching themselves on a playing field as rigged as a poker game played with marked cards.
Board passes tobacco ban in pharmacies (Stored)
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