The New Year nanny

What was your New Year’s resolution? Was it to reduce your carbon footprint? To eat healthier?\nTo quit smoking? If you lived in Europe, you might have resolved all these and more.\nWhile the rest of the world observed the start of the new year with such unoriginal and worn out traditions as all-night parties, fireworks and midnight smooches, Europe rang in 2008 with a new round of legislation to increase the role of government in their citizens’ everyday lives.\nGermany, famous for Volkswagen,\nBMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, introduced laws restricting “smog-producing” vehicles\nfrom certain cities. Milan, Italy, set fines for polluters.\nBritain created restrictions on television advertisements for food and drinks heavy on fat, sugar and salt. Across the continent,\na barrage of regulations of the private sector went into effect, including mandates on employee pay and health care.\nNot everyone is happy about the new regulations, which also include new smoking laws that have cigarette smokers, well, fuming. On Jan. 1, smoking bans came into effect in Germany,\nFrance and Portugal – and IU as well, come to think of it. A German citizen remarked, “We are not little children who need to be told what we cannot do.” A French doctor wrote in Le Monde newspaper that the ban was the first step toward a “totalitarian society.” She wrote, “When will it start to impose low-fat menus -- for our own good ... to guarantee stable blood pressure, low blood sugar and cholesterol?”\nRemember when we all got to make our own New Year’s resolutions? Well, those days are coming to an end. If the current trend continues, we can expect the government to have a bigger say in what we should or shouldn’t be doing in the coming years.\nWhile many of us on the opinion staff believe that decreased\nsmoking, environmental protection and healthy eating are worthy causes, we’re concerned about this trend in which the government takes it upon itself to manage people’s lives and limit personal freedom. The idea of freedom is a cornerstone in the foundation of not only the United States, but of many other countries as well. Maybe you’re not a smoker. That’s fine, but you should think long and hard before\nyou support legislation that would deprive everyone else of their freedom to smoke. Maybe you’re into healthy eating. But do you really have the right to force your dietary standards on the rest of us?\nNow we’re not anarchists, and we recognize that the government\nhas a purpose and a duty to do certain things. But it’s crucial that we educate ourselves and take an active role in the electoral process to ensure that the government\ndoes the things that really matter and doesn’t overstep its boundaries. The same people who took the cigarettes away from the smokers will be back later for your doughnuts.\nPerhaps increased awareness and activity into electoral politics would be a good resolution for 2008. Make this resolution now, so the government doesn’t do it for you next year.