From Trans Fats To Big Brother

The New York City Board of Health has voted to ban the use of nearly all trans fats in NYC restaurants. As I wrote about several months ago, this is just another link in the chain that allows our government to do anything possible to protect us.

American society has become infantilized by our need to have government solve every problem. We need the government to forbid restaurants from serving hamburgers cooked to rare or medium-rare, we need the government to make our bars smoke-free, we need the government to force restaurants to use one type of oil over another. So why is anyone surprised when the government, which is called on to solve any and all problems, takes that mandate seriously and tries to protect itself and our society from terrorism? If the government needs to tell us what we can and cannot put into our bodies, why shouldn't it torture suspected terrorists? Or tap our phones?

When government is seen as the answer to every problem, those answers will inevitably and necessarily become more and more oppresive. And if you support today's intrusion of government authority into our lives, you most certainly will not support tomorrow's. As I wrote in my earlier post on this subject:

This is the reason that true libertarians (and I don't mean the wackos in the Libertarian Party) fear giving power to government to solve problems; even problems for which we all agree on a solution. You may like what Big Government does today, when your preferred elected official is in office. But what about tomorrow, when the other party holds power? And how do you stop government from taking as much power as it believes it needs to protect the country? The next time you find yourself calling for government regulation, remember where it can lead. Big Government is inherently and necessarily a threat to liberty and freedom.