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Should the government be able to make things illegal that are only harmful to ourselves?
A good example of this is wearing a seatbelt. Of course wearing a seatbelt is a good idea on the off chance that you're in an accident, but should there be a law to enforce this?
As adults, aren't we responsible for our own actions. We can look at something, weigh the consequences and make a decision. It's our health that we're putting at risk and if we decide to take the risk then why should the government stop us? Not wearing a seat belt is only harmful to the person not wearing it (at least on a physical level).
I'm not anti-seatbelts or anything either. The same could be said for drugs. When you do drugs you're risking your health. That's not only legal drugs, but illegal ones too.
Do you feel that these are decisions that you should make, or the government should make? Why?
That is true... If the person had no health insurance than that would be the case. Although with universal health care everyone will be paying for it anyways. I'm not sure how not wearing a seatbelt or doing drugs results in property damage though.
1 Answer
- DonLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
The problem with your example is that, when people don't have enough insurance, get in a wreck, have severe head trauma and end up costing the rest of us millions in medical and support costs for the rest of their lives.
If you want to set it up so that failure to wear a seat belt sets in motion an automatic withholding of such care if not insured, then I have no problem with it. As long as I'm on the hook for your "choice", I'd rather have a law requiring you to wear a seat belt. At least that way, I have some hope that part of the costs might be offset by the fines.
First, we don't have universal health care yet. We have the mechanism in place, and we're paying for it already, but we don't have it. Second, the attitude that "we have universal health care, everybody pays for it anyway" is exactly why universal health care can't work. There are no consequences for living unhealthy lifestyles, so why bother. If I eat too much and have a heart attack, you pay for it, not me, what do I care. Same with seat belts - if I get vegged out and require expensive lifelong care, who cares, I'm not paying for it. No man is an island, everything you do or fail to do affects the rest of us.
