Barro, tongue-in-cheek, asks Brooks:
[W]hy go after marijuana for its second-order effects? Why not just ban stupidity, laziness, obesity, unambitious taste, or whatever social ills are of concern to national opinion columnists? As Brooks asks, “Laws profoundly mold culture, so what sort of community do we want our laws to nurture?” If the answer is “one where people are thin,” the obvious answer is to ban fatness.
Fat is an ideal menace to be targeted with a criminal law. To some extent, it’s a subjective matter who is lazy or stupid, but it’s pretty easy to figure out who’s guilty of being fat. A law against fat would scare people into losing weight. Even independent of actual legal penalties, it would set a strong norm, showing that society is opposed to fatness and wants people to stay at healthy weights. It would lead to improved cardiovascular health, higher labor productivity (fewer sick days!), and longer life expectancy.
Of course, we’d have to actually jail some people for their fatness. (Otherwise the policy wouldn’t work!) Those who are jailed might find, upon release, that their records of criminal fatness make it harder for them to find work in their desired fields, such as national opinion columnist.
Previous Dish on Brooks and other talking heads in favor of Prohibition here.
The Dish 