In this post from last December, I wrote about the move to make kids meals healthier.
My wife predicted that the political class and the restaurants would get political props for providing healthier choices. She also predicted that people would buy fewer kids meals and just order ala carte to get the food they wanted.
This story appears to support those predictions. As a follow-up, we have ordered many fewer Happy Meals since then, opting instead for ala carte to get more fries and to avoid the accumulation of cheap toys. And, as I mentioned then, my kid eats plenty of fruits and vegetables.
This is a lesson politicos know well. They can make it look like they are achieving great things, when they really just helped the restaurants sell other food and/or caused more packages of apples to be thrown in the trash. I wish more folks would wise up to the game.
The greatest and most skilled tricks of magicians and politicos is to divert your attention from what is really happening.
Our Dinner Table 
Seth, you’ve summed it up nicely! Politicians are NOT interested in doing what’s in your best interest. They are simply interested in making you THINK that they are. For them the mantra is that reality is not important, perception is what counts.
Hi Seth – I didn’t know where else to put this, so here it is:
Megan McArdle is now at Newsweek (the daily beast) – here’s the link:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/contributors/megan-mcardle.html
Thanks Mike. I updated my link.