by Stephen Chapman

About the author: Stephen Chapman is a nationally syndicated columnist.

In olden times, kings and emperors trampled on the rights of their people simply because they had the power to do so. In modern democracies, governments often encroach on liberties, but they always do it with the comforting assurance that it’s for our own good. Increasingly, the only freedoms entrusted to ordinary people are the ones that have been certified as harmless.

The public-health school of thought believes that we have a duty to take good care of our bodies and that enforcing this duty is government’s noblest purpose. The result is an assortment of assaults on tobacco—banning smoking in office buildings and restaurants, raising cigarette taxes to...