INTRODUCTION

As of New Year’s Day, 2010, the great state of California banned trans-fat from all restaurants. New York City and Philadelphia had the dubious honor of leading the way onto that slippery slope, but California's the first entire state to dictate what its citizenry can't eat. "Nanny state" has become a cliché, but how else can you describe this sort of policy?

Yes, trans-fats are bad for you. You should avoid them if you want to keep your heart healthy. I avoid them when I can, but that's my choice. You may have different priorities. I wouldn't think of stopping you from eating all the trans-fats you wish (wouldn't stop you from lighting up a joint, either, but that's another issue) because it's your right to mess up your body. After all, you own it.

Or do you?

Now that we've taken the first step toward a single-payer national health system, don't be so sure. You will have less and less say about how you wish to treat that body. Watch as the erosion of your already-diminished individual rights accelerates. If the hive is paying for your health care, then the hive is going to demand a say in behaviors that it considers hazardous to your (its) health.

It's only logical.

Lots of behaviors, lots of ingestibles and inhalables are going to become illegal or, better yet (for the hive), be taxed to the point where you won't be able to afford them. And we all know what that situation creates: black markets.

It's only logical.

So logical that it inspired an episode of "American Dad." In "Live and Let Fry," the town has banned trans-fats, and Dad goes to bootleggers for "food that tastes good."

Some of my readers wrote asking if I thought my story "Lipidleggin'" had been had ripped off. I doubt it. I simply asked the next question 30 years sooner.

Back in the 70s, when a national health care system was a major political topic, I weighed in with a guest editorial in Analog magazine ("And now, from the people who brought you Vietnam and Watergate...") and in fiction. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, I wrote a cautionary tale about a day when saturated fats would be banned. I saw how it could happen, but never for a moment did I believe it would happen. Not in a free country like our US of A. But it has happened.

What next? Butter?

I tried a first draft of "Lipidleggin'" in the third person but wasn't happy with it. For the hell of it, I switched to first person present tense, a voice I usually dislike. But it worked here. George Scithers made a few well-considered suggestions and bought it for Asimov's. It has been reprinted many times since.