It's What's Inside

 They stopped selling Sugar Frosted Flakes. This doesn't mean you can't get flakes of corn covered in sugar for breakfast. You just have to buy them under the oh-so-clever name "Frosted Flakes." Now, it could be that these flakes are now coated with a mixture of kale and other superfoods, supplying your body with all the nutrients you might need for a day in the world. Or perhaps the folks at Kellogg's figured out that back in 1983 people didn't want to be reminded of all the sugar they were sitting down with Tony The Tiger to consume. 

Much in the same way Post's Super Sugar Crisp disappeared from shelves back in 1985. That cute bear in the turtleneck sweater who sounded a bit like Bing Crosby didn't go away, they just didn't call him Sugar Bear anymore. And the cereal shifted to being called Super Golden Crisp and then to just Golden Crisp in order to distance themselves from all of that added sugar. 

Which did not make the sugar go away. It was right there in the ingredients that were printed on the box. It should also be noted here that Crunchberries have seventeen grams of sugar in one cup serving, and a cup of real blueberries has fifteen, so we're keeping it real here. The cups of cinnamon Chex cereal that we feed the kids at my school for breakfast has eight grams of added sugar, and the cinnamon in the name comes along with an additional gram of fiber for our young charges. 

All of this is to make a point that this is essentially common knowledge, most of which can be discovered by simply turning the container away from the bright cartoons found on the front and back and perusing the jumble of percentages and measures on the side. 

What if the same could be said for public figures? If the label on the side of your standard politician listed the percent of racism, homophobia, pedophilia and felony convictions like we do with breakfast cereals, wouldn't that make it easier to make our choices come election time?  Let's not get distracted by the cartoons of casino owners and cosplaying former governors. Let's stick to the main ingredients. And I'm not talking about sugar here.