I just finished reading David Harsanyi’s new book, Nanny State. In it, Harsanyi recounts the exploits of various nannies—individuals and organizations who seek to use the power of government to force adults to make the correct choices about what to eat, drink, etc.

If you don’t see anything wrong with laws banning driving without a seatbelt or smoking, you’ll probably not like this book. If like me you bristle at the thought of a meddlesome bureaucrat telling you what you can and can’t eat or drink or smoke or whatever, you’ll be angered by all the liberty-infringing crap recounted in the book.

Here in Virginia we’re relatively free, inasmuch as we can smoke in restaurants and bars, eat trans fats, drink alcohol, download pornography, be morbidly obese, and generally make our own stupid choices without a government nanny around to keep us from hurting ourselves. However, Virginia’s state and local meddlers don’t escape some notice in the book, particularly the appalling misdeeds of the Fairfax County police arresting bar patrons for public drunkenness sometime back. Nonetheless, there are much worse places for freedom-seeking adults to live, as the book describes.

More importantly, I think, the book exposes some of the non-governmental nanny pressure groups for the frauds they are. In particular, the Center for Science in the Public Interest comes out badly, as well it should. We’re used to hating politicians for fucking w/ our lives, but it’s important to remember that shrill nanny NGOs and the media outlets that parrot their ridiculous claims are also part of the problem.

In any case it’s a quick and worthwhile read. If nothing else, the next time a co-worker talks about how great a ban on insert annoying behavior here would be, you can whip out a bunch of anecdotes demonstrating the perils of a government that can regulate private behavior, and if not convince them at least force them to stammer for a while before stalking off.