As New York City’s health commissioner, Thomas Frieden presided over a huge expansion of the mommy state. And now, he’s slated to become the head of the Centers for Disease Control, where he will have the opportunity to impose his mommy-state, government-knows-better-than-you-do mentality on the entire country.
Recall that in New York, Friden used his intrusive power to accomplish his goals. That included bans on smoking and trans fats, and requirements for calorie counts on menus. His latest NYC target: salt. Oh, and let’s not forget his advocacy on behalf of condom distribution and needle exchange programs. From the News & Observer:
Frieden is unapologetic. Illnesses such as heart disease, he said, are now leading killers, cost taxpayers billions of dollars, and should be treated with the same urgency as an outbreak of a contagious illness like tuberculosis.
In a 2004 editorial in the American Journal of Public Health, he chided most public health agencies for being “asleep at the switch.”
“Local health departments generally do a good job of monitoring and controlling conditions that killed people in the United States 100 years ago,” while doing little about modern-day threats like diabetes, he wrote.
It is unclear how Frieden’s approach will play in the rest of America.
His support of needle exchange programs and condom distribution to help prevent the spread of AIDS may not sit well with conservatives. (He distributed tens of millions of free condoms, proudly stamped with the city’s NYC logo and the slogan “Get Some!”)
