… is from page 215 of Randy Simmons’s 2011 Revised Edition of his and the late William Mitchell’s excellent 1994 volume, Beyond Politics:
Consumer protection is an expanding arena for bureaucrats, politicians, and interest groups who want to get into the nanny business. The Phoenix City Council banned churches from feeding the homeless in an area not zoned for restaurants. Minnesota’s Department of Human Rights banned special deals on drinks and cover charges for women – no more ladies night, it discriminates against men! Some states want to ban baggy pants and the Los Angeles City Council forbids people dressed as super heroes who take pictures with tourists on Hollywood Boulevard. California banned trans fats. Some want to regulate salt intake, sodas, and school bake sales. Whatever happened to the right to choose? As some wag put it, “I support a woman’s right to choose …. salt!”
Indeed, why doesn’t everyone simply mind his or her own business until and unless invited by particular individuals to interfere in each of those individuals’ affairs? It’d be a much nicer and more civilized world.
(And keep in mind also that all nanny-stating done is done on other people’s dimes – making such officiousness all the more offensive and immoral.)