Do we need lawyers or government to protect us? R. Emmett Tyrell says no - and points to President Bush - Fat food foibles.

The vigorous president has taken personal responsibility for his diet and his lifestyle. He did not need the Prohibitionists' remonstrances. He once drank too much. Without benefit of the Prohibitionists, he cut out the booze and picked up the personal training regimen. The consequence is that he is fit, beyond the dreams of any Prohibitionist or trial lawyer ever heard of.

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Allow me to recommend to Mr. Barber the splendid figure of Our President. He is precisely Mr. Barber's age, 56. He took stock of his health a decade or so back and did not need lawyers or Prohibitionists to tell him what was necessary. He demonstrated personal responsibility and he is now in the pink. He did not need more government regulation and higher excise taxes to direct him toward a better diet and toward exercise. Yet more government regulation and taxation are what the Prohibitionists demand. Ironically, the result will not be a leaner but a more corrupt America, if the tobacco scenario taught us anything.

Regulated industries are always subject to the corrupt practices of pressure groups. Substances burdened with high excise taxes are always subject to bootleggers. Given the disparity of onerous taxes on tobacco among the states and municipalities, organized crime is now extending its grip on tobacco sales. Just as the Prohibitionists of the 1920s were the Mafia's best friend, history is repeating itself today as the Prohibitionists' taxes on tobacco widen the opportunities for Mafia bootleggers to take over tobacco distribution. When the states start imposing more regulation and taxes on junk food the opportunities for corruption will multiply.

Yet, as the robust George W. Bush demonstrates, if we take personal responsibility for our diet we will not need the Prohibitionists, the trial lawyers, and now — as I hope I have demonstrated — another of their allies, the Mafia.