I don't remember drinking a whole bottle of NyQuil this morning

...but I must have. Cuz I could swear that the by-line to this piece is former Sen. George McGovern.

But it can't be...it says things like:

I've come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society.

Why do we think we are helping adult consumers by taking away their options? We don't take away cars because we don't like some people speeding. We allow state lotteries despite knowing some people are betting their grocery money. Everyone is exposed to economic risks of some kind. But we don't operate mindlessly in trying to smooth out every theoretical wrinkle in life.

The nature of freedom of choice is that some people will misuse their responsibility and hurt themselves in the process. We should do our best to educate them, but without diminishing choice for everyone else.

Oh wait...that first paragraph I quoted starts off by saying:

Since leaving office I've written about public policy from a new perspective: outside looking in.

Since leaving office. Well, that makes sense now.

I really liked the piece, I've got notes on my other hard drive for a rant about how our state gov't is trying to protect us from ourselves in similar ways. Yipe. I was getting ready to write something that would echoGeorge McGovern.

Stop the world, I want to get off.