Certainly. And if people want to ride motorcycles without helmets or smoke cigarettes that’s their prerogative, too. But it’s the nanny-state’s prerogative to protect the rest of us from their idiotic behavior. Sugar-sweetened beverages account for a full 7 percent of our calorie intake, and those calories are not just “empty,” as is often said, but harmful: obesity-related health care costs are at $147 billion and climbing.

New York Times Food Magazine columnist Mark Bittman has a compelling column supporting Mayor Bloomberg’s move to limit portion sizes of sweetened drinks. I’d be more swayed by arguments about the nanny state if it weren’t so obvious that most of us need to be thoroughly nannied, especially when society foots the bill.