Life's Pleasures Quote by Bob Filner

Filner’s line is a piece of political stagecraft that tries to make a procedural fight feel like a moral emergency. “Headed in the wrong direction” frames Congress as a drifting vehicle, reckless at the wheel, while he positions himself as the one watching the road. It’s not policy-speak so much as parental-speak: the destination is children’s health, and lawmakers are veering away.

The muscle is in “removes any and all incentives.” That absolutist phrasing does two things at once. It simplifies a messy regulatory landscape into a clean villain move, and it implies intent without having to prove it. If a bill “removes” incentives, someone must have put them there for a reason; if it removes “any and all,” then the bill isn’t misguided, it’s captured. Filner doesn’t say “lobbyists” or “industry influence,” but the accusation hangs in the air: Congress is running errands for the food industry.

Then he narrows the audience target: “for children.” This is a rhetorical trump card, because few constituencies are safer to defend and few opponents want to be seen as bargaining against them. The subtext is that improving products for kids is the bare minimum standard of governance; failing to do so is not just a legislative choice but a moral lapse.

Contextually, this fits the era when obesity, school lunches, marketing to minors, and nutrition labeling were flashpoints, and when “incentives” stood in for the larger argument over whether public health should be driven by regulation or voluntary corporate reform. Filner’s intent is to force that choice into the open and make the politically comfortable middle - do nothing, blame consumers - sound indefensible.