Transfats bad for you? Don't expect people to close their pie holes, just ban them. Tired of stepping in dog poo? Ban dogs. Drivers are too stupid to put down the cellphones while they negotiate around heavy traffic? Make a law against it. They started way back by protecting our tender feelings. It's been illegal for anyone to hurt our feelings for a long time! We are kept from getting offended to the point that what is and is not ok to say, leaves people saying little.
Just look at how transportation companies have to pander to everyone. Even if you belong to a teeny, tiny religion that forbids the consumption of little Ritz crackers, and you complain that there are Ritz in your mixed bag of snacks, you have every right to demand that the airline assign an attendant with diamond encrusted tongs to remove the Ritz lest they offend your sensibilities. Freedom of religion! The parameters are so wide now that everyone feels it's their right to be acknowledged as distinct or wail that they're being discriminated against. Morbidly obese? Demand an extra seat - free! After all, it's an illness and you can prove that between bites of donuts.
In my harshest moments I feel that cellphones and transfats and other "bad" habits are merely components of the survival-of-the-fittest theory. That perspective doesn't really work though, because innocent people can and do get hurt when fools text while driving and cause a crash.
The absolutely stupidest law we have is the Pit Bull ban. It's doggie racism and it has nothing to do with dog bites. Placid and pretty Golden Retrievers bite the most of any breed. If the government were serious, they would require anyone who wants a dog to take an obedience training course. But if they were really serious, they would start with parents, though, and make them learn about nutrition, discipline, and everything else so many people seem to fail to learn about having a baby.
But that will never happen. After all, this is not a police state, it's a nanny state, and like the children they think we are, the government will decide for us from what it is we need protection.