EDITORIAL: Minimum drinking age for soda another regressive idea

While our government does a great job of promoting a seemingly endless stream of bad ideas, it doesn't always come up with these ideas on its own. No, sometimes it takes outside suggestions. And the folks at the New York Times are often happy to provide them.

In a recent interview with Luckypeach.com, food journalist and New York Times opinion writer Mark Bittman proposed ways to reduce the amount of junk food kids are eating. In addition to wanting to find ways to restrict the marketing of soda to kids, he also wants to make it more difficult for kids to buy it. Mr. Bittman touted the idea of a minimum drinking age of 16 for soft drinks — similar to the laws that keep kids from buying cigarettes.

"I suggest we start discussing carding kids when they go to the counter to buy a Coke," Mr. Bittman says. "We don't think that you're able to make a decision about how much soda you can drink until you're 16. Really it should be 20, but I'm compromising because it's such a far-fetched idea. But it's not a wrong idea, it's a right idea."

And Mr. Bittman doesn't stop there. In addition to his proposed limits on soft drink marketing and his desire for a soda drinking age, he also proposes the creation of a soda tax. The revenue from that tax would go toward "countering the consumption of junk food," which would include "subsidizing fruits and vegetables and teaching people how to cook them" as part of revitalized home economics programs in the nation's schools.

It goes without saying that we have an obesity problem in America, and everyone (especially kids) eats way too much junk food. But Mr. Bittman's "right idea" fits in perfectly with the wrong philosophy of taxing, regulating or banning everything outright. Sugar taxes affect the poor disproportionately, and imposing a minimum age on soda purchases or consumption would put a significant new burden on businesses.

The more restrictions we're willing to impose to serve high-minded aims, the less free we'll become.

Soda, in excess, isn't good for us, but it isn't solely responsible for our current epidemic of obesity. A parenting culture that requires children to be under constant supervision and limits outdoor activity is far more responsible for juvenile obesity than any food product.