TRUE: Unnecessary Relics: The Surgeon General and the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. “Neither entity is necessary. Eliminating them and reassigning legitimate public health activities to other agencies would improve public health and the federal budget outlook.”

The Surgeon General is a national nanny — and, as the example with LBJ, eggs, and cholesterol indicates, a dishonest political one — and the public health service hasn’t exactly covered itself with glory.