If the American Revolutionary-era figure Patrick Henry were alive today in Australia, it is highly unlikely he would get away with saying “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!”

Apart from the fact it would probably breach an array of anti-terrorism laws, it would likely upset the increasing nanny-state tendencies of a growing number of politicians, activists, academics and assorted killjoys.

Dr Rosemary Stanton, while well-meaning, compared the consumption of trans fats to non-swimmers drowning in 1 metre of water, in her Crikey article on Friday. An interesting analogy, however the more relevant analogy would be that Australians are currently drowning in nanny-state behaviour.

While the trans fat-laden KFC chicken fillet burger became the public health equivalent of the Islamo fascist in 2007, trans fats are only the tip of the iceberg for those wishing to save us from ourselves.

Macquarie University last week sent out an email reminder to students that the sale of cigarettes would cease on campus. Once university students led protest marches against the Vietnam War, now they cannot even buy a packet of Benson and Hedges Classic on campus.

The previous week, Gail Gago, South Australian Environment Minister, put out this statement stating she would be taking a hard line on the use of solariums under the Radiation Protection and Control Act. There’s some real value-add. South Australia is running out of water and the Environment Minister is concerned about very white people tanning.

Then we have Clover Moore. Clover wants to stop little Johnny from saying “How much is that puppy in the window” and encourage him to turn over pet shop owners to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Banning the sale of pets is such a historically important issue that Clover in her parliamentary speech implied that Abraham Lincoln would probably be a member of PETA if he were alive today.

Then there is Bankstown MP, Tony “Who are you” Stewart. Tony suggested in October that joggers should be banned from the streets of Sydney. Perhaps Tony would have been better telling Morris that trains struggle to go up steep hills rather than stop runners from going up them during their lunch break.

In an era where there are big picture policy challenges such as climate change, global terrorism, an ageing population and the state of public education, why are Australians increasingly subjected to the policy banalities of the nanny-state crowd?

I suggest they think about their priorities over a Cuban cigar and a good single malt.