Wednesday, February 01, 2006

So, I have to justify something. Recently, someone pointed out a discrepancy in my opinions.

I am a self-proclaimed libertarian, yet I feel that smoking should be regulated more heavily. "How can you hold these two opinions at the same time?" they ask me.


Well, this question is a matter of public ownership. Along with a dislike for governmental over-regulation, a fundamental principle of my beliefs is that one person should not be given the right to take away the liberty of another without very good justification. Government is the process of forgoing certain rights in order to gain more in return. The moment others use this enforcement power to take liberties away from others without equal representation or consent, the civic process transforms into tyranny. Nobody can tell me who I can love, whether or not I have privilege over my own body, or what I cannot do so long as it does not take away from the liberties of others.

The key to this is taking away liberty from others. When we do this, the whole civic system needs to step in and ensure the rights of its constituents. If we are not giving up a few rights to gain more overall, then why are we doing it? I don't steal because I don't wish to live in fear of my belongings being taken without my consent. I drive on the legal side of the road because I'd like to be able to get to where I am going. I don't smoke because I feel that it endangers my health and wellbeing.

Now, it used to be acceptable to smoke in lecture halls. Student and professor alike would light up without regard to the comfort of the other students. Quite a few students smoked back then, but most of them died of cancer, so that doesn't count. Once people recognized that smoking was deadly, they didn't light up in classrooms anymore.

It's my right to not be exposed to something which could endanger my health, as long as it's feasible. It isn't my responsibility to put up with someone else's chemical dependencies at the risk of my own health. Sorry, but if you'd like to kill yourself, please don't inconvenience me in the process.

We don't allow you to go around shooting people in public places, so please keep your lethal activities to yourself. I don't think my desire for the right to have control over my own health interferes with my libertarian views.

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