Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Fred Thompson appeals to libertarian conservatives

And I'm glad he's doing so. The topic was food and government-led "preventative" care:
"Standing about 15 feet away from a mouth-watering steam tray buffet loaded with fried chicken, creamed corn and macaroni and cheese at Wade's Southern Cooking in Spartanburg, Thompson dismissed the idea that preventative care and wellness education should be central features of a government's health care system. "I'm telling you, I don’t think that it’s the primary responsibility of the federal government to tell you what to eat," Thompson said to applause when asked if his health care plan included any details on preventative care, a priority for Democratic candidates. "The fact of the matter is we got an awful lot of knowledge,” said the former Tennesse senator. “Sometimes we don’t have a whole lot of will power, and I don’t know of any government program that's going to instill that."

The legendary conservative thinker and writer Frank S. Meyer was even suspicious of zip codes. I don't know that we need to go that far, but moving a little bit back in that direction would be good.