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I think government needs to stay out of our personal lives. Years ago I predicted a "fat tax" and it looks like we may just get one yet. If they pass enough laws, sooner or later we will all be criminals. I adamantly refused to wear a seat belt for years. After becoming an EMT though, I have reformed. Not because I am afraid of the law but because I have made an informed decision. Same with trans fats. If I want to eat them, I am going to. Some things are just not right without them. I'll never make it a habit to eat them daily, but my access to them should not be restricted by government. I have made an informed decision to not consume them.
I don't mind being given the information needed to make an informed decision about my own behavior. I sure do resent the government making that decision for me.
There are reformers and fanatics all over the political spectrum. I am a liberal democrat but I have no desire to protect people from their own foolishness. If people want to smoke - OK, just not around me. If they want to abuse alcohol - OK, just not where it will hurt me (DWI). If they want saturated fat - OK, I cook with saturated fat.
I'd agree that sensible compromise is too infrequently used as a tool, but public health is a serious issue. If we do not make any progress at all in constraining public health care costs, we are going to be in some trouble. It may be that you don't have a right to eat artery-clogging doughnuts or smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, and then dump hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of life-support costs off onto the rest of us, either directly or by way of your health insurance coverage. That's a question that we'll have to answer. But the answer may be about the same as what it was to the question of whether or not you had a right to ride around in your car without wearing a seatbelt...
When I was reading this post something sparked my interest. You promote the freedom to not wear a seatbelt, which I can understand the freedom of things however I think that one is a bit improper in that regard. You are aware that a good portion of the injuries and or deaths of others within your vehicle would be from your body parts flailing around at high speeds and impacting them, and would actually be more damaging to them then the actual crash yes? Do you still believe that seatbelt wearing should be at a persons own discretion when your kids are in the back seat?
This is what makes these kinds of decisions, and compromises even, so difficult.
I worry that if a national health care system is put in place, how much more is the government going to try to control the things we do? I think that it is a legitimate concern. Where will the legislation end?
When I was reading this post something sparked my interest. You promote the freedom to not wear a seatbelt, which I can understand the freedom of things however I think that one is a bit improper in that regard. You are aware that a good portion of the injuries and or deaths of others within your vehicle would be from your body parts flailing around at high speeds and impacting them, and would actually be more damaging to them then the actual crash yes? Do you still believe that seatbelt wearing should be at a persons own discretion when your kids are in the back seat?
This is what makes these kinds of decisions, and compromises even, so difficult.
Yes, if you want to drive around without a seatbelt, it should be your choice. As long as it doesn't impact other drivers on the road, it's fine, as far as I'm concerned. The same goes for biker helmets.
This appears to be just another step in restricting personal freedoms in the all holy name of the public good. It has gone so far that in Tennesse, to buy beer it is required to produce ID regardless of age. Note that this is only in grocery stores and convenience stores, not restaurants or bars. Legislating personal behavior is always a method to restrict personal freedoms.
You are aware that a good portion of the injuries and or deaths of others within your vehicle would be from your body parts flailing around at high speeds and impacting them, and would actually be more damaging to them then the actual crash yes? Do you still believe that seatbelt wearing should be at a persons own discretion when your kids are in the back seat?
No, I'm actually not aware of that at all, the human body's not having any particular tendency toward generalized disintegration, but I perhaps did not make clear enough the fact that I was suggesting the supposed right to eat and smoke to overtly dangerous levels might one day follow the once-supposed right to ignore seat belts by sailing directly off into oblivion.
I worry that if a national health care system is put in place, how much more is the government going to try to control the things we do? I think that it is a legitimate concern. Where will the legislation end?
What would the financial structure of an insurance scheme have to do with it? We don't have a national auto insurance regime and we still have seat belt laws. Why would targeted efforts to control the costs of medical care work out any differently under a single-payer health regime than under the regime we have in place right now?
Legislating personal behavior is always a method to restrict personal freedoms.
If you are trying to live in a country along with 300 million other people, there will always be limits to your personal freedoms, those often, for instance, ending at the point where the personal freedoms of all those other people begin. Once there is more than one person on the desert island, this fact of life comes directly and continuously into play...
I'd agree that sensible compromise is too infrequently used as a tool, but public health is a serious issue. If we do not make any progress at all in constraining public health care costs, we are going to be in some trouble. It may be that you don't have a right to eat artery-clogging doughnuts or smoke two packs of cigarettes a day, and then dump hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of life-support costs off onto the rest of us, either directly or by way of your health insurance coverage. That's a question that we'll have to answer. But the answer may be about the same as what it was to the question of whether or not you had a right to ride around in your car without wearing a seatbelt...
I don't believe there is an answer when it comes to someone's privacy and right to freedom....there are artery-clogging doughnuts, and that is my personal right if I want to eat them. I've been working all my life, since I was 13 years old and dumping money into health care insurance all that time. And so...I ask this question...have you walked into a cancer research treatment center lately and have you seen all the children in there with Cancer and they never smoked a day in their lives. By the way, I'm not a smoker...and do you know the amount of people suffering from all kinds of diseases, like parkinsons. convulsion disorder...migrains, acute aculrative colitis, Alzheimers, diabetes, human papaloma virus....HIV, domestic violence, down syndrome, drug and alcohol disorders, ear nose and throat diseases, heart defects, fetal diseases, vascular diseases, glandular disease, mental illnesses, tumors, eye diseases, macular degeneration, respiratory diseases, facial nerve disease, facial paralysis, and I could go on and on...and on and I've only hit the F's.
My point being here, and I don't mean any insult...the American people are going to have to come to terms with reality...and start doing some thinking on their own....there are far more serious diseases in this world then smoking and fat people. That we've been working for and putting our money into all our lives to pay for health care for these people.
Channel Six action news reported FINALLY, that that studies now prove that fewer cancers are caused by smoking...and that is true. If you think about it, more and more people all over the nation have quit smoking every year.
I really believe there are people who do want to do something about health care...yes, our health care system is in trouble...but it is due to rising health care costs....do you have any idea how much a contract nurse makes a year?
I just had double knee replacements back in Oct. of "06" The surgery was a grand sucess and the doctors were paramount...but the nurses, well, I felt like I had fallen off the edge of the world into some 3rd world country. I wasn't bathed or fed, the entire time. They complained b/c they had to bring me the bed pan...and my last night there, I was made to sleep in my own urnine all night (they didn't come for the bed pan, and I filled it up) and they spilled it all over me and the bed.
Point being is this....there are thousands of people all over this country with all kinds of diseases, thousands of diseases...and none of them are related to smoking or fat people. Yes, you are right, there is a very small percentage of people who have gotten cancer from smoking. And this conversation always sends me into great dispair and all I can do is shake my head..."hey, did you hear, so and so died...yeah, he did, it was a heart attack, and he was a smoker" "How old was he" "ohhh, I believe he was 65". Shessh...yeah, 65 years old. After the age of 55 any human being becomes a candidate for heart attack and other diseases, fat, skinny, and so forth. I have heard of two people I know who fell over while jogging or playing football and were younger then that, never smoked a day in their lives. I cannot believe the concept and mental intellect of this country? To actually think that if you die after the age of 60 or 65, it's not by some natural cause, or the guys life was simply up...but it must be from smoking or from being fat....true, he might of lived longer but who can say that for sure...did he have a geneology history of heart problems, of cancer...b/c they are both very heriditary...and why do people think, that human beings have to live to be 90 or older to die of natural causes. I got news for you...walk into any nursing home, spend some time there, and really see what is going on....you'll be shocked....
Think and research before making a statement, and realize, how many diseases there actually exisit. Do a search on the internet....???????
Our health care system is a mess...but I tell you, before people vote to have coverage for everyone, you'd better talk to people that already have it. It's shoddy and you have to go to the health care facility THEY choose for you to go to...and the same for Doctors...you no longer will have a choice. Not to mention, your illness better be what THEY think to be serious enough to even see a doctor.
You think it's bad now, wait...if we receive national health care, many of us I fear will be in for a great big wake up call.
You get what you pay for...no more no less, and believe me, cancer, all cancers are not caused by smoking...death by natural causes are usually the result. This whole cancer scare linking cigerettes with cancer is a lie...and as much as I'm certain people want to do good, people are making decissions that effect all of us, our rights and our privacy, without enough research and information.
There are also a lot of people in this world, who cannot control their own lives, so by controlling the lives of others, gives them satisfaction. Not to mention...we are so few times informed and allow others to do our thinking for us.
thanks so much for your feedback
Creme
Last edited by cremebrulee; 07-03-2007 at 09:02 AM..
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