The Surreal Surgeon General and Public Health

“The nation” is not a big biological organism but is made of a large number of individuals, all different and unique, with each his or her own preferences, values, and circumstances. Economics is a science that studies the social consequences of individual choices. Ultimately, all choices are individual, even the decisions made by politicians and bureaucrats. A political majority is made of individuals. If somebody were “the nation’s doctor,” you would thus expect him to be proficient in economics...