I knew, just knew, there had to be a public policy proposal somewhere in this Sebastian Mallaby column about some new data from the American Sociological Review on loneliness in America. And sure enough, it shows up right at the end of the piece:

But there’s one antidote to loneliness that is at least intriguing. In an experiment in Austin, Princeton’s Daniel Kahneman found that commuting — generally alone, and generally by car — is rated the least enjoyable daily activity, but commuting by car pool is reasonably pleasant. Measures that promote car pooling could make Americans less isolated and healthier.

There’s a new frontier in nanny statism. It’s not enough that government at all levels has moved beyond the prosaic tasks of protecting life, liberty, and property toward promoting clean living through sin taxes, fat taxes, and the like. Now it’s going to lean in real close and ask, “Are you happy, buddy? I mean really happy?” — and regulate you further in the hopes that you’ll make some new friends.