Today Obama signed into law the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, which allows the FDA to regulate the marketing and manufacturing of tobacco products. The act also bans flavored cigarettes. While the law does not completely ban cigarettes and may make sense to many as being against tobacco is hip, it is a serious infringement on our liberties (we can argue about the significance of damage caused by cigarettes some other time).

From time to time, liberals reinforce the stereotype that they will not do anything unless they have a gun pointed at their head (or a law forces them to do something, but not much difference in my opinion). This stereotype is especially reinforced when they start blaming McDonald’s for making people fat or the fact that liberals prefer to pay higher taxes rather than donate to charities which is the opposite of what conservatives prefer (see Arthur Brooks’ Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism). The legislation that Obama just signed into law is another example of their need for a gun pointed at their heads. Cigarette companies are not forcing you to smoke and McDonald’s is not shoving Big Macs down your throat. And if you need a huge label to tell you that inhaling smoke might not be the most healthiest thing in the world then cigarettes are probably the least of your worries. Sure, if we ban smoking or fast food, we might be closer to a healthy and happy utopian society, but at what cost?

In the DC Universe, a New God named Orion learns the Anti-Life Equation, which eliminates free will (the name comes from the fact that you are not really alive if someone possesses absolute control over you). He decides to use the equation to create a utopian society by forcing everyone to be happy and good but in the end learns that free will is too important to be eliminated. Regulating fast food and cigarettes as well as increasing taxes for inefficient welfare programs is the government forcing us to be good. The government is essentially using the Anti-Life Equation on us. Unfortunately for us, the government will never learn the importance of free will like Orion did. It may only be cigarettes now, but there are plenty of other products that many of us enjoy in moderation that some abuse. Even if you are against cigarettes, supporting government regulation of them means you are suppressing someone else’s free will. Just wait until something you enjoy is taken away.

I know I heavily bashed liberals on the fact that they are enforcing social behavior. Religious right-wingers support laws that enforce social behavior as well but they do so not to motivate themselves (they already follow their religious teachings). Instead, they do so because saving babies and straight marriages are a part of their religion. No way am I actually supporting them, I am just explaining why I am more annoyed when liberals enforce social behaviors because they do so in order to push themselves to stop stuffing their face with fries or they want the law to help them quit smoking (Obama is a smoker). Why should I suffer because you cannot find the energy to get off your couch and go out for a walk? If you want motivation, should the fact that you will live a healthier life not be enough? How about being able to watch your children grow up? There are so many better ways to motivate yourself, why get the law to do it?