New Hampshire, Welcome To The Nanny State 2

This is an opinion piece that appeared in the New Hampshire Union Leader. It reinforces my position that I wrote about in my post titled New Hampshire, Welcome To The Nanny State.

Banning bad stuff: Why stop with cigarettes?

The state Senate on Thursday voted 17-7 to ban smoking in bars and restaurants in New Hampshire. The House will approve the bill, Gov. Lynch will sign it, and the state will turn a corner in its relationship with the people. From this point forward, it becomes easier for the state to intervene to protect residents from themselves, something New Hampshire long has taken pride in not doing.

What next? Well, two legislators already want to ban restaurants from serving food that contains trans fats. That is just one small step away from banning fatty foods all together. Who needs cakes, doughnuts and hamburgers anyway? Humans can survive just fine on fruits and vegetables.

After that, banning drinking in bars and restaurants makes the most sense. Social drinkers can put others’ lives at risk. It happens every weekend. The state can cut down on drunk driving accidents by forbidding people from drinking at bars, nightclubs and restaurants. You might drink too much, and the state can’t take that risk.

Next, lawmakers can ban dancing in bars and restaurants. After all, New York City does it, and we wouldn’t want to fall behind the trendsetters down there.

But why stop at banning things? The state could just as easily mandate good behaviors, too. It can start by requiring motorcycle helmet use, seat belt use, trigger locks and library cards (reading makes you smarter!).

Then the state can move on to bigger issues, like requiring that all boy babies be circumcised. It stymies the spread of AIDS, you know. After that, it can mandate condom use for all unmarried couples (it’s for the public health) and require that everyone use hand sanitizer before touching doorknobs in public places.

There must be thousands of laws the state could pass to make us all safer by controlling what we do once we set foot outside our homes. Who knew?!

Legislators had better get cracking.

Every second they wait to tell us what to do is another second in which the rest of us are vulnerable to making dumb decisions that might hurt us and others.