This is the story of a caveman,
defending the first amendment, and Internet freedom.
Steve Cooksey was an obese, junkfood scarfing, couch potato. He nearly died. Was rushed
to intensive care,
and diagnosed with type two diabetes. Steve decided to go forward by
leaping back in time.
He adopted the diet of our paleolific ancestors.
Fats, meats, nuts, and veggies, but no sugars or grains.
He also exercised like a caveman,
running and jumping in bare feet.
As Steve went from flab to fab,
he stopped needing drugs and insulin.
He started a blog called diabetes
warrior.
He's part of a nationwide movement of
regular people
taking responsibility for their health, by sharing ideas and advice over the
Internet.
Soon Steve had thousands of readers
and became friends with many.
His new friends often ask for advice about stone age eating.
Steve discovered a
passion for motivating people,
and he started a coaching business to provide for a fee
the exact same advice and moral support
he had been giving his family and friends for free.
In December, 2011,
Steve even started a Dear Abby style
advice column on his blog. North Carolina
officials got mad.
They told Steve that giving dietary advice is not
free speech.
That's assessing
and counseling.
which requires a government issued
dietitians license.
They told him that
private advice to friends is
illegal assessing. That his Dear Abby
column
is the legal assessing and counseling,
and that his new coaching business is
illegal too.
In North Carolina's view.
the government chould throw Dear Abby in jail for not having a psychologist license.
and even shut down the Facebook pages and Internet forums where people share
advice on diet, pregnancy, parenting, marriage
and a million other topics.
But under the first amendment,
the government
cannot use occupational
licensing laws
to ban ordinary people from giving
advice.
No one thinks of getting advice about
what food to buy at the grocery store from an
online colomn,
a friend, or a motivational life coach is the same as going to a doctor.
That's why Steve has joined with the
Institute for Justice,
to stand up for his rights.
Together their defending free speech and Internet freedom
for Americans everywhere.
Who do you think should win?
The caveman?
Or North Carolina's regulatory dinosaur?
