I don't care what you call it...a pile of shit by any other name stinks just as badly. And I don't give a rat's ass if you're offended or not. The fact remains, you live in a nanny state. Your elected idiots are actually considering using your tax money to install CC cameras into the homes of "unfit" parents and to hire other nannies to watch them.
You should just accept that your philosophical viewpoint on individual rights and responsibilities is completely at odds with that of most of the American members here. In fact, we kicked the shit out of you 233 years ago over this very difference.
Government's role should be limited to quality control and public advisory...ensure the product on the shelf is actually what the label says it is and let me know if their experts believe it's good for me, but the final decision on whether to consume it and the consequences for doing so rest ultimately with me. Alcohol, tobacco, MDMA or smack...the substance is irrelevant, the choice and the responsibility for it are mine.
I don't see how my viewpoint IS in opposition to most americans (you taken a poll have you).
I have not disagreed that it is an individual's responsibility to choose what they do or don't but when the consequences of individual's bad decisions have a negative impact on a great number of others then there should be guidelines (popularly called laws) to prevent people from doing the wrong or stupid thing.
The fact that you dislike the idea of the way that the current UK government operates is indicative of your personal beliefs and certainly does not qualify you to speak on behalf of an entire nation.
In response to your examples of the 'nanny' state, they are wildly extreme and the kind of examples expected to be used by the opposition to fearmonger.
Perhaps i am wrong, perhaps drugs should be legalised, perhaps we can become a workforce of 'off our face' incompetents, i'm sure the cost on society would be worth the saving on anti-drug expenditure, yea right.
Alcohol is perfectly legal but the way it is abused by the individual has negative effects, drugs would be no different but the effect that certain drugs have on the mind are unquestionably more dangerous than alcohol. It is not a 'nanny' state decision that would oppose such an idea, it is a very reasoned opinion.
Lastly, congratulations, you kicked the brits ass in a fight for independence, i am so bitter at the thought that we did'nt win, get real, i am pro-freedom as much as the next, you make out like the UK does not share common values with the US in this day and age.