The Central Planner’s Recipe Book

I’ve generally liked his shows in the past, but Jamie Oliver should stick to cooking:

The Essex, England-born chef started cooking at age 8 at his parents’ hotel before his first book and television series, “The Naked Chef,” made him famous at the age of 21 in several countries and spurred more books and shows.

Oliver said U.S. politicians should “stop being so subservient” to “junk food companies” and that the country should cut down on junk and fatty foods, which would help reduce future health costs.

Oliver said clearer government guidelines were needed, such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s recent proposal for a near ban on artificial trans fat in restaurant food.

“The junk food companies have got more resources than the government and more money to spend on poxy lawyers so I completely admire and condone the mayor for doing it,” he said.

I’ve said my bit about trans-fat already, and that should suffice here for how I feel about Mr. Oliver’s statist opinion. That doesn’t mean I think kids should eat junk food, of course, but that’s a decision best left to parents. As his experience in England shows, some parents prefer their children to have “junk” food. We can think they’re idiots all we want (and I do, a little), but they’re going to win. Which is why the statists want to use the coercive power of government.

Rather than being anti-liberty, which they are, they could go to a more fundamental, and dare I suggest cost-saving, solution to the actual problem. Allow for school choice. The market would sort this out, with parents opting for whatever dietary preference they wish for their children. If there’s really a demand, parents will seek it out. Now, they’re stuck with what the government offers through its schools.

But that’s wishful thinking, because I clearly don’t care about the children.