In Seattle, we have found that incentivizing businesses to "do better" and "make the right choices" has had a positive effect, all across the board. The $15 minimum wage has not hurt jobs, and has demonstrably helped the local economy. The elimination of styrofoam food containers has eliminated those products from our waste stream, been a boon for local paper businesses, and has led to some very interesting innovations in food packaging. The elimination of plastic straws recently has already had a huge positive effect. (I have always hated straws. I'm not 3 years old, and no, I do not want that piece of plastic in my fucking drink.)
But this post is about a specific issue here in Seattle.
Seattle was looking at a Soda Tax. Just like cigarettes, soft drinks are fucking toxic waste to the human body. That's well-known. Soft drink bottles are (largely) single-use plastics, and therefore fucking toxic waste to the planet. When humans drink less soda, they are healthier.
So, like cigarettes, you put a "sin tax" on them to make them slightly more expensive, and therefore make people think twice before they buy them. Then, over time, you gradually increase that tax.
The next effect is more money in the city's coffers, and less toxic waste being consumed by humans. A win for everyone.
But Coca Cola doesn't like that.
So they wrote and financed legislation that they say "prevents raising taxes on 'groceries', so poor people can still afford food."
"Keep your grocery prices low! Vote yes on I-1634!"
Fucking fucksticks.
But here is the real problem with this legislation: what it does is prevent the public from using their democratic right to vote on issues that matter to them, at any time in the future.
Seriously. This legislation prevents the public from EVER bringing any kind of legislation forward, related to any food product. Thereby removing the base principle of a democracy: the right for anyone, anywhere, to raise an issue, gather support for it, and bring it to a vote of their peers.
That is fucked up, and every one of the sponsors of this bill should be penalized by the Federal government - and their customers - for attempting to limit the public's rights in our democracy.
Fuck Coca Cola. Fuck Pepsi. Anti-democratic fucksticks.