Whatever Will He Do Now?

Pity poor McIlheran. First, he has to decide between following his religious leaders, or his conservative tendencies. Now McIlheran has to make another choice.

It is well documented that McIlheran despises any group that would dare make recommendations towards healthier living styles. He rails against those that point out that smoking is unhealthy, alcohol consumption can have bad effects, fatty foods aren't good for you, and so on. He is always griping about what he calls the "nanny state."

Likewise, McIlheran often sides with positions that are commonly espoused by Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. He is against taxes of any sort (unless they're for building more freeways). He is also opposed to any sort of regulations on businesses. In fact, he could be safely labeled as being pro-Big Business.

Interestingly, WMC has now come out and joined forces with Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease. Today's JSOnline is quoting WMC as saying:

In a statement, WMC said chronic disease accounts for 75% of health-care costs, and that half of costs are related to lifestyle choices such as smoking, unhealthy diet and lack of exercise.

One of his favorite groups is now saying people need to quit smoking, eat healthier, and get more exercise. In other words, they are teaming up with the nanny states.

The question is: What will McIlheran do now? The way I figure it, he has one of four choices:

1. He can take the position that being a nanny is sometimes OK,
2. He can take the position that WMC is not always right,
3. He could simply ignore the whole thing, or
4. He could come up with some real twisted way of rationalizing away the dichotomy.

What is your guess?