Frans the medieval serf led a wonderful, carefree existence. In an environment free of second-hand smoke, processed foods, transfats, caffeine, salt and soda, living off the land and eating only organic produce and free-range beef and poultry, he was as healthy as could be and so lived a long and fruitful life.

Ha! Just kidding, of course. He lost most of his teeth by the time he reached his teens, was chronically malnourished and died at the age of 34 of some completely preventable cause, like dysentery or typhoid fever. And, being a superstitious lot, his fellow villagers killed his family and burned his house down after he died.

Cheered on by the permanently hysterical activists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, regulators and politicians across our nation are starting to weigh bans on trans fat in restaurants. Chicago's City Council considered the idea as early as June (after having banned the French delicacy foie gras already). New York City's health commissar proposed such a ban last month, and a New Jersey state legislator followed suit shortly thereafter. Even D.C. and L.A. are looking into it.

If all these governments are looking into it, trans fat bans must be worthwhile, right? After all, these are politicians and political appointees we're talking about. We can be certain they have their priorities in order. As we wrote in the Post:

But surely things were better [in the time of Frans, the medieval serf]. Sure, we may have running water and modern medicine and Motown records, but we also have fast food. Who wants a trade-off like that?

Visit the New York Post's website and read the whole thing.