Just no

Think deeply about what the term "Coca-Cola" means to you.  Think about how it was developed, launched, and marketed in the late 1880s in Atlanta by John Pemberton, Asa Candler and Frank Robinson.  Think about all the great ad campaigns throughout the 20th century.  Think about its rapid spread throughout the world.  Think about how it ranks alongside Mickey Mouse, baseball, blue jeans, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and the hamburger and hot dog sandwiches as one of America's great popular-culture contributions to the world's ground-level life.  What it symbolizes is difficult to encapsulate in one paragraph.

Pepsi's not far behind.  It glommed on to Pemberton's concept, but did so early on and thereby also assumed status as a symbol of American culture.

And now all that goes down the collectivist toilet:

The nation's largest soda marketers -- which have been feeling the heat from health advocates -- on Tuesday pledged to reduce beverage calories consumed per person nationally by 20% by 2025.

Executives from PepsiCo, Coca-Cola Co. and Dr Pepper Snapple group announced the goal in New York City at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. The effort includes involvement from the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which was founded by the American Heart Association and the Clinton Foundation.

"I am excited about the potential of this voluntary commitment by the beverage industry. It can be a critical step in our ongoing fight against obesity," former President Bill Clinton said, according to a statement.

We're going to be defeated by the array of our enemies, not because of any esoteric military or strategic missteps, but because we came to hate what made us great: our funky, sweaty, inventive, devout-yet-feisty essential character as a people.  We have surrendered to the nicey-nice / 21st-century-is-different mindset that crushes all that.

And we won't be able to pull into a drive-in and get a satisfying meal five years from now.  But I suspect that will be the least of our worries five years from now.