From: Samizdata quote of the day

Let us consider, my lords, that arbitrary power has seldom or never been introduced into any country at once. It must be introduced by slow degrees, and as it were step by step, lest the people should see its approach. The barriers and fences of the people's liberty must be plucked up one by one, and some plausible pretences must be found for removing or hoodwinking, one after another, those sentries who are posted by the constitution of a free country, for warning the people of their danger. When these preparatory steps are once made, the people may then, indeed, with regret, see slavery and arbitrary power making long strides over their land; but it will be too late to think of preventing or avoiding the impending ruin.

and the first comment

US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said pretty much the same thing about 200 years later -

EXPERIENCE should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government's purposes are beneficial. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greater dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.

This ought to be compulsory reading for any government minister/official, and nailed to the wall of every newspaper editor and political correspondent in the land.

Cheers.

There are more nuggets in the comments.

Some on the left bemoan corporate personhood. The flip-side is to note the incremental loss of individual liberty. I need not form a personal alliance with any artificial entity any more than I would have to accept a forced marriage.

UPDATE: More --

Someone even references the obvious oddity of banning trans-fats. Which I liken to mandating the eating of your vegetables, under the pain of civil or criminal penalties. Why so minor an issue should rise to the level of government mandate is beyond me. But think how the mind of Randy Leonard in Portland may think of this limited LIMIT on private activity might instead be viewed as testing the cusp of total absurdity in the exercise of the sovereign power of government. Here is the test you must apply to yourself. Would you walk into your neighbors house and demand to examine the cupboards to find any trans fats so that you may grab them and destroy them. First of all, it is THAT OTHER PERSON'S CASTLE to which you demand to enter. Now I could examine the trans-fat ban on a spectrum from a corporate entity that wishes to obtain a license to a girl scout mom that hosts a gathering of friends and their kids and serves them a non-approved donut. Is this a crime that warrants having the police perform a SWAT raid? Randy has lost his mind, like so many like-minded others. (If he could extend his advocacy of a cell phone talk tax to cover the use of kid's walkie talkies I think it would seem to suit him just fine. Recall, it was the loss of franchise fees -- taxes -- that spawned the cell phone talk tax, free from any link to gross easements and such. The loss of tax revenue explanation would hold equally were folks to use walkie talkies rather than cell phones or land lines.)