A thirst for common sense

Mayor Michael Bloomberg introduced an idea to limit soda sizes to 16 ounces.  The limit is only for sugary drinks that have over 25 calories per 8 ounces.  Diet sodas and water would likely exempted.  However, the city of Cambridge thinks this is an equally delightful idea, would likely include ALL drinks, all the name of "the war on obesity."

But myopic rules like these don't work.  They're designed to be stifling and show the laziness of governments not to do their research on health, to knee-jerk their way into control of the populace who consumes these drinks.  This is why rules like this get ridiculed; no law is worse than when proposed by someone who doesn't like what others do (and is tyring to get money from the government to fund such cockeyed schemes) and try to control others.

Furthermore, by disguising these stiff laws as "it's for your own good," they hide the real motivation behind them, which is "we don't like what you're doing, regardless of it being harmless, and we'll prevent you from doing it any way we can."  Types of laws like this usually devolve into resentment, confusion, and then revolt and black markets.  See the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s for an example of that success story.

A better idea would be to suggest that occasionally, a 20 ounce drink with as much sugar as your pancreas can handle is fine, so long as you balance it out during the day.  That's better than being laughed at as a crank and a control freak.