I came across this passage from C.S. Lewis last night and found it remarkably applicable to the anti-smoking, anti-drinking, anti-fast food, pro-helmet wearing, "but what about the children?," safety zealots of today.
Of all the tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of the victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a hell of earth.
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