Nanny State

Entry in progress—B.P.
   
Wikipedia: Nanny state
Nanny state is a term that refers to state protectionism, economic interventionism, or regulatory policies (of economic, social or other nature), and the perception that these policies are becoming institutionalized as common practice. Opponents of such policies use the term in their advocacy against what they consider as uninvited and damaging state meddling. It has been referred to as a form of political correctness.
 
Overview
Its usage varies by political context, but in general it is used in reference to policies where the state is characterized as being excessive in its desire to protect (as a nanny would protect a child), govern or control particular aspects of society. Which particular aspects are considered to be excessively protected depends on usage. The term can refer to:
 
. public health interventions such as disease surveillance, quarantines, mandatory or government-subsidized vaccination, food labeling regulations, school lunch programs, the prohibition of substances-natural or otherwise, and water fluoridation
. consumer protectionism that removes or controls otherwise free choices such as helmet laws, anti-smoking laws and other laws regarding personal choices[citation needed] and/or infringing upon personal privacy. 
. national economic and social policies (regulation and intervention) that affect large and state-favored businesses
. international trade policies that favor native corporate industries (protectionism).
 
For example, politically conservative or libertarian groups in the United States (especially those that support the free market and capitalism) object to excessive state action to protect people from the consequences of their actions by restricting citizen options.
 
Liberals and Libertarians on the other hand have used the term to describe the state as being excessive in its protections of businesses and the business class —protections ostensibly made against the public good, and the good of consumers. This usage applies to the international context as well, where the “public good” is used to refer to people in general, and where the state is viewed as being excessive in its protection of native business over foreign (rival) businesses.
 
The term nanny state was probably coined by the Conservative British MP Iain Macleod who referred to “what I like to call the nanny state” in his column “Quoodle” in the December 3, 1965, edition of The Spectator.
 
American foreign policy critic Noam Chomsky regularly uses the term nanny state to refer to U.S. protectionist policy.
   
Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary
Main Entry: nan·ny
Variant(s): also nan·nie  \ˈna-nē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural nannies
Etymology: probably of baby-talk origin
Date: 1795
: a child’s nurse or caregiver
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
nanny state n. orig. and chiefly Brit. the government or its policies viewed as overprotective or as interfering unduly with personal choice.
1965 I. MACLEOD in Spectator 26 Feb. 255/3 The London County Council is dying, but the spirit of the *Nanny State fights on.
1994 Guardian 22 Oct. 40/4 There were concerns voiced about the potential for unscrupulous salesmen to take advantage of the public. These were brushed aside by ministers, convinced that they were symptoms of the ‘nanny state’.
 
Google Books
The Scandinavians
By Donald S. Connery
London, Eyre & Spottiswoode
1966
Pg. vii;
4 THE NANNY STATE 62
Socialism?—Nationalization—Capitalist Sweden—Welfare State—High Cost of Welfare—Taxes
 
11 September 1967, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Sweden Has Unequaled Record of Labor Peace;  Nation’s Industrial Harmony Makes Its Standard of Living Second Only to U.S.” by Robert C. Toth,  pt. 1, pg. 12:
For perhaps because of the good life in their “nanny state”, negotiation has become such a part of that life it is called “the Swedish way.”
   
Google News Archive
19 September 1967, St. Petersburg (FL) Times, “Negotiation: The Sweidh Way With Labor” by Robert C. Toth, pg. 10A,
For perhaps because of the good life in their “nanny state” — some might say lulled by — negotiation has become such a part of that life that it is called “the Swedish way.”
       
Time magazine
Denmark: Setback for the Nanny State
Friday, Feb. 02, 1968
(...)
During the campaign, the anti-Socialist opposition shrewdly played on rising Danish concern over increased unemployment (which is at 2.7%, still low by Western standards), a drop in Danish exports, the higher bill for welfare programs and the general direction of what many Scandinavians call their “nanny state,” which hovers over them from nursery to old age.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The Nanny State
Author: Robert Huntington
Publisher: London : Artnik, 2004.
Edition/Format: Book : English
 
OCLC WorldCat record
The conservative nanny state : how the wealthy use the government to stay rich and get richer
Author: Dean Baker
Publisher: Washington, D.C. : Center for Economic and Policy Research, ©2006.
Edition/Format: Book : English
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Nanny state : how food fascists, teetotaling do-gooders, priggish moralists, and other boneheaded bureaucrats are turning America into a nation of children
Author: David Harsanyi
Publisher: New York : Broadway Books, ©2007.
Edition/Format: Book : English : 1st ed