Huckabee Fat Attack
by Frederick Meekins
Issue 100 - January 30, 2008

Throughout his time in the public limelight, Republican Mike Huckabee has made obesity awareness one of his pet issues having lost over 100 pounds himself. However, as is typical of most folks having come to a realization or a cause a little later in the game than most, it is not enough for them to keep what they have learned to themselves but now they are out to impose their new way of life to such an extent that they are willing to appeal to the mechanisms of the state in order to enforce their vision of reality.

As part of an initiative to combat childhood obesity, as Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee implemented directives where each public school student in that state would have their weight cataloged by operatives of the educational system. From this assessment, a document similar to a report card would be generated and sent out at about the same time as the more traditional scholastic evaluation.

Those with their perceptions mired in what to them seemed more carefree times might respond, "What's the big deal?" Perhaps they should stop and reflect for a moment.

In a FoxNews.com story posted 6/13/04 titled "Students To Be Graded On Weight", the health coordinator is quoted as saying, "We're going to know how many are overweight, how many are underweight, how many are normal weight." It's bad enough for the government to have such information in its possession, but it gets even worse when it serves as the basis for the implementation of concrete policies.

According to an article titled " Arkansas' Battle Against Childhood Obesity Enters Its Second Year" posted on the website of the University Of Arkansas For Medical Sciences, at schools with a disproportionate number of obese students, "The incentives offered to students in some areas have changed from pizza or ice cream to yogurt parties or other more healthy food choices." Now what kid in their right mind is going to work harder for yogurt and carrot sticks? If that is all they have to look forward to, they might as well drag their feet and remain mired in mediocrity.

The director of the Arkansas Center For Health Improvement said, "We need schools, parents, and communities across the state to get onboard and become active in this effort that will make a profound difference in our children's lives." Unless he is referring to his own offspring when he says "our children's lives" that statement is very revealing as to what this higher mid-level functionary is thinking. The state, ladies and gentlemen, according to this worldview, holds ultimate title to your progeny and you are merely a hired hand granted the privilege of overseeing them for a few years --- the number continuing to decrease as proponents of universal preschool and the like continue to make headway --- but who must ultimately raise them in accord with the will of the lord of the manor.

Is that overreaction? In this day and age, especially in certain Republican circles, you can pretty much get what you want by dressing it up in the name of national security or the war on terrorism. That is exactly what Mike Huckabee has done. In comments before the Southern Governor's association regarding what he perceives as an obesity epidemic, Huckabee said, "You've got a serious situation with a generation of kids coming up so unhealthy they won't be able to pass the military physical. We keep talking about the war on terror --- who's going to fight it if we don't have enough people who are healthy enough to show up and pick up a backpack." Ultimately is it about nothing more than being healthy enough to die or toil for the glory of the Fatherland (or maybe rather "Homeland")?

Normally, a person's weight is the last thing I criticize as at about the age of 9 or 10 on a visit to the doctor's office for an unrelated matter I was handed a diet plan with a rear-end of a hippopotamus splashed across it and even in Christian schools the vilest of taunts were often reserved for the overweight students. However, the Drudge Report around 12/19/07 featured a portrait of the Huckabee household. Now, in this land of the free and the home of the brave, if the Huckabee spawn wants to be that big, that is its prerogative and most of the time, most of us should keep our mouths shut about it. But so should a parent who insinuates one is an unfit parent if their progeny happens to be bigger than Nicole Richie.

During the Christmas season, the media about had a coronary attempting to determine whether the intersecting boards of a bookshelf were a subliminal attempt to interject the cross into the campaign. Too bad they have not been as concerned about an actually existing law passed by that candidate that could potentially curtail basic liberties and bring yet another level of surveillance into the lives of the American people if applied to the whole nation.

Dr. Frederick Meekins