The Government is Not Your Mother

I'm not sure that saying sensible things is a path to the White House, but I'm glad to see Thompson make this statement:

SPARTANBURG, South Carolina (CNN) — Fred Thompson wants the government to keep its hands off your dinner plate.
That's what he told a questioner Tuesday in South Carolina, anyway.
Standing about 15 feet away from a mouth-watering steam tray buffet loaded with fried chicken, creamed corn and macaroni and cheese at Wade's Southern Cooking in Spartanburg, Thompson dismissed the idea that preventative care and wellness education should be central features of a government's health care system.
"I'm telling you, I don’t think that it’s the primary responsibility of the federal government to tell you what to eat," Thompson said to applause when asked if his health care plan included any details on preventative care, a priority for Democratic candidates.
"The fact of the matter is we got an awful lot of knowledge,” said the former Tennesse senator. “Sometimes we don’t have a whole lot of will power, and I don’t know of any government program that's going to instill that."
Thompson, ever a fan of small government, said healthy living should be the responsibilities of families first.

There's no question that many Americans don't eat as healthy of a diet as they should. (Even myself, on occasion.) But I am more worried about a government that does the dietary equivalent of the mandatory exercise program in 1984 than I am about poor health.