Ah, the good old days, when Ronald Reagan would warn of the dangers of socialised medicine.
Meanwhile, in the present, my taxes pay for propaganda aimed at getting the whole of Europe to have homogeneous anti-smoking laws.
And don’t miss Ian B’s essay explaining the motives of those who would label our food. This is a good enough reason for me (actually, consequences aren’t necessary for me to reject compulsion, but still):
Now we may also note that once calorie counted menus are obligatory, a lot of spontaneity goes out the window. No more can the chef just whip up a special du jour. It isn’t officially calorie counted, is it? The restaurant can’t modify a dish to the individual customer’s requirements either, for the same reason. As with all state regulation, the diversity and colour of life is drained away, replaced with grim standardisation.
But IanB traces the roots and motivations of the food labellists including the origins of junk food and binge drinking, and predicts the same path for food that tobacco suffered.