Most political commercials are about hot-button nonsense like which congressional candidate is against fentanyl, so I ignore them. But because Wisconsin is such a key U.S. Senate race, the campaign of its mediocre senator Tammy Baldwin paid to put an ad on the national broadcast of the Brewers-Mets game last night, so I watched. The video attempts to get overweight voters–Cheeseheads?–to prefer Baldwin to her Republican opponent Eric Hovde because he in years past said that obesity should come with monetary costs. Obviously it does have such costs (health care, especially)–the question is who should bear them. The people speaking in the ad, presumably real, are outraged that Hovde might seek to have them pay more for health insurance. Now, under Obamacare, pre-existing conditions are supposed to be a socialized risk, so applying that implied moral imperative we might say that those who are genetically disposed to be fat should not suffer a penalty. But plenty of “weight issues” are a function of life-style, so in those common situations I would side with Hovde’s past (and maybe present) sentiments. Yes, for the same reason tobacco users should incur a premium cost for their risky habits. Sen. Baldwin wants to stigmatize Hovde as a cruel, rich financier, and her tactics may work. They will do little to help curb obesity, which may finally be dipping in the U.S. (thank expensive Wegovy). Politics is a lot like junk food, and America is asked to swallow more of both. –Oct. 4, 2024
https://www.facebook.com/TammyBaldwin/videos/393856360336406
Tim W. Ferguson 