In Support of State Symbols
Legislation has been filed in Wisconsin, my home state, that would make cheese the state’s official snack.
I am sympathetic to Sarah Brodsky’s argument that the role of the state should not include handing out endorsements, and that individuals shouldn’t look to the state for approval. However, I am OK with legislation about state symbols. I feel that the more time the state spends making non-financial endorsements such as for a “state bird” or “state animal,” the less time it spends passing legislation that increases bureaucracy or infringes upon our personal liberties.
I might agree if states didn’t lengthen their legislative sessions over time and if there were no special sessions. As it is, if legislators want to debate state symbols one day, they can still find time some other day to infringe on liberties.
Comment by Sarah Brodsky — January 6, 2010 @ 3:34 p.m.
Great point. I made the incorrect assumption that legislative sessions are restricted to a finite period of time.
Comment by Christine Harbin — January 6, 2010 @ 4:14 p.m.
Missouri’s session has been set at its current lenghth for quite some time. I see no effort afoot to lengthen it, and special sessions are thankfully rare, and usually dedicated to just one or two very important items. (Important in the eyes of government, not me.) On the whole, the idea that legislators spend their time on trivial matters is appealing to me for the reasons Chrissy outlined.
The big news here is that Wisconsin has not officially recognized the importance of cheese to the state until now. I think the city of St. Louis should follow this up with declaring Provel cheese from Wisconsin to be the official city pizza cheese.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/provel-cheese/
Comment by David Stokes — January 7, 2010 @ 10:32 a.m.
Christine,
I think that the free market can give out endorsements much more fairly and efficiently and uselessly than any central planner. As I was eating a bag of Pizzeria Pretzel Combos off my chest the other day, I noticed on the bag that they are the “official cheese-filled snack of NASCAR”. This is a good distinction, because from what I’ve gathered after painstakingly extensive hours of research, Cheez-Its are the “official cheese snack of NASCAR”, and Pop-Tarts are the “Official Breakfast Food/Fruit Flavored Snack of NASCAR”.
I say, put the Official Snack up for bid, and use the money to build schools FOR THE CHILDREN.
Comment by David C. Miller — January 7, 2010 @ 1:14 p.m.