A Caring State Is a Controlling State

I have often argued that a state charged with caring for the people has an interest in regulating personal behavior. If the government takes the role of parent for all its subjects, it will not just provide for them, but set rules on what they can do. Government that provides health insurance will, both in authentic concern in the tradition of the humanitarian with the guillotine, as well as in an effort to cut costs, treat people as if they do not own their own bodies. So I am glad to see one of my favorite papers, the Christian Science Monitor, publish Paul Hsieh’s outstanding article along these lines, “Universal healthcare and the waistline police.”