Nanny State of the Union

Nick Gillespie sits down (virtually) with the author of Nanny State:

In a world where foie gras is outlawed, only outlaws will munch on goose liver fatted by gavage.

In his new book Nanny State, Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi documents in appalling and encylcopedic detail exactly "how food fascists, teetotaling do-gooders, priggish moralists, and other boneheaded bureaucrats are turning America into a nation of children." If there's a smoking ban, a mandatory exercise program, or censorious city government out there, it's pilloried in Nanny State.

In wide-ranging and engagingly written chapters, the 37-year-old Harsanyi argues that preserving life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness means giving individuals more choices in how to live, not fewer. "We've built the freest and most dynamic society the world has ever seen," writes Harsanyi. "To let these lightweight babysitters take over would be absurd, self-destructive, and categorically un-American.