Does anyone remember the Sonia Sotomayor judiciary hearings when she was asked what she thought about a law that would require people to eat healthy food? She laughed at the idea. Then the San Francisco Board of Supervisors tried to legislate a “healthy food quota” forbidding giveaways of toys with kids’ meals unless the latter met strict dietary criteria. Now San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has vetoed the ban which targeted sales of McDonald’s Happy Meals with children’s toys as too intrusive.

In announcing his veto, Mayor Newsom said, "Parents, not politicians, should decide what their children eat, especially when it comes to spending their own money."

There is a growing tendency in this country to try to legislate that which we have not been able to accomplish yet by other economic or market means.  Really, now, why don’t we all stop buying Happy Meals from McDonald’s rather than trying to legislate that EVERYONE stop buying them?  Last time I looked I thought this WAS a democracy.

Or, even more importantly, if some San Francisco ladies and gentlemen truly believe that it is possible to produce healthy food that meets strict dietary criteria (and hopefully tastes good too) they why don’t THEY go out and start up companies to produce those products economically in the marketplace just like Roy Kroc did decades ago?  Why is it necessary to pass laws to shove this stuff down our throats?

Yes, I don’t like paying for the externalities of my neighbor’s obesity.  Yes, I invest only in the best dietary foods I can find at reasonable prices.  Yes, I detest the marketing hype of selling garbage to kids through entertainment and games.  But, yes, I expect the marketplace to work better than the courts.  That means I will put my money into products and services in which I have confidence.

Think about this when you think about quotas for women or minorities on company boards of directors.  If we’re so smart and so sure we know what boards of directors OUGHT to be, then women as well as men OUGHT to be building quality companies, producing quality well-priced products for the marketplace, AND building boards of directors capable of competing with the likes of anyone.