How Much Personal Freedom Do You Have?
Our federal government is currently arguing that as individual citizens we have no “fundamental right” to obtain any food we choose. It is seeking a ruling to establish the precedent that we do not have unlimited choices concerning the food we eat. Specifically, the case is centered around the sale of raw milk. There are many of us that see value in eating food that has not been processed and for some, access to raw milk is one of their more healthy choices. Our wise and all knowing government, however, has decided that it knows our nutritional needs better than we do, that they are the experts, that they have the right to tell us what we can and cannot eat. This is just the latest in a long list of meddling by governments at all levels over what we choose to put into our bodies, going back to Prohibition.
The question is, does the government have the right to determine what you put into your body? Does it have the right to tell you what you eat and drink, what supplements or drugs you take, what forms of exercise or sexual activity you engage in? Laws have been passed that regulate salt, fats and sugar, pressure is being put on food processors to change their recipes to conform to government guidelines, the process of getting drugs approved through the FDA is a long and expensive process that often denies patients access to new treatments until its too late. The First Lady has been thrilled with the new health care bill that gives the government unprecedented power to regulate our behavior as she wages her war on obesity. The congress is now considering legislation that will make some state grants dependent on the body mass index average of its children.
That brings us to the crux of the matter-money. As a libertarian, I don’t believe any government has the right to tell me what I eat or drink, what supplements or drugs I take or any other personal behavior I engage in as long as that behavior does not infringe on another’s rights to life, liberty or property. If I drink alcohol, it is my business unless I get behind the wheel and cause an accident. In that case, alcohol should not be a mitigating factor to decrease my penalty but I should be held responsible for any damage, injury or death I caused. If I eat too much junk food and get fat and develop diabetes or heart disease, I should be the one who pays for my increased medical costs. If I engage in promiscuous or homosexual sex and contract AIDS, I should bear the consequences.
That is not, however, how it works in America. The government has done its best to remove any responsibility for our actions from us and make us victims. Through Medicare and Medicaid and now through Health Care Reform, the government pays for the consequences of our behavior. That means if you take care of your body and make good behavioral choices in your life and I don’t, you will be paying for the consequences of my bad choices. To have your money stolen to pay for my irresponsibility rightly makes you mad and so it should. If it is your money, then you do have the right to regulate my behavior. If we have children, we know that because we provide them food and shelter, we have the right to regulate their behavior. If they begin engaging in behavior that we don’t like, we restrict their freedom. If they break a window playing ball, we take the ball away; confiscation of property. If they don’t eat their vegetables, they don’t get dessert; restriction of access. If they are out causing trouble with their friends, we confine them to quarters; restriction of association. If they cuss us out, we wash their mouth out with soap; restriction of speech. When they move out, however, and support themselves, we no longer have the right to exercise that level of control. If they break something, they pay for it. If they associate with the wrong people we can give them advice but that’s it. Being responsible for your actions, positive or negative, it the mark of a mature adult.
We have redefined our relationship with our government, however. We once interacted with our government as mature citizens. Today, our government interacts with us as subjects and children. It takes money from the productive and responsible and uses it to pay for the consequences of the people who are irresponsible and unproductive. As long as bad behavior is subsidized two things will be true. The irresponsible will not make responsible choices unless they are forced. The second is that the government will continue to assert it right to regulate all our behavior on the grounds that it is paying the bills, even though its with our money. If we choose to interact with our government as children, expecting it to meet our every need, then it will fill the role of parent and will exercise legitimate control as a consequence of that occupation.
The fix to this is simple. Remove the government safety net. For one hundred and fifty years of our history we got by just fine without it. There was no FDA, no welfare checks, no illegal drugs, no government health insurance or Social Security. Somehow, without the government intervening, the American citizen built this country from a few colonies on the eastern seaboard to a world power, economically and militarily. Somehow, hard drinking settlers tamed the west. Without government regulation, we all had food to eat and water to drink and roofs over our heads, and that food and shelter was considerably better than that in the Old World. If you engaged in negative behavior you bore the consequences. If you lost your job you found something else or you depended on your family or neighbors and they determined your “recovery” or the worth of putting their time and money into your life based on your cooperation. If you resorted to crime to support bad habits, justice was swift and harsh. Morality, justice and community were essential in such an environment and that is exactly the way it should be.
The question is, does the government have the right to determine what you put into your body? Does it have the right to tell you what you eat and drink, what supplements or drugs you take, what forms of exercise or sexual activity you engage in? Laws have been passed that regulate salt, fats and sugar, pressure is being put on food processors to change their recipes to conform to government guidelines, the process of getting drugs approved through the FDA is a long and expensive process that often denies patients access to new treatments until its too late. The First Lady has been thrilled with the new health care bill that gives the government unprecedented power to regulate our behavior as she wages her war on obesity. The congress is now considering legislation that will make some state grants dependent on the body mass index average of its children.
That brings us to the crux of the matter-money. As a libertarian, I don’t believe any government has the right to tell me what I eat or drink, what supplements or drugs I take or any other personal behavior I engage in as long as that behavior does not infringe on another’s rights to life, liberty or property. If I drink alcohol, it is my business unless I get behind the wheel and cause an accident. In that case, alcohol should not be a mitigating factor to decrease my penalty but I should be held responsible for any damage, injury or death I caused. If I eat too much junk food and get fat and develop diabetes or heart disease, I should be the one who pays for my increased medical costs. If I engage in promiscuous or homosexual sex and contract AIDS, I should bear the consequences.
That is not, however, how it works in America. The government has done its best to remove any responsibility for our actions from us and make us victims. Through Medicare and Medicaid and now through Health Care Reform, the government pays for the consequences of our behavior. That means if you take care of your body and make good behavioral choices in your life and I don’t, you will be paying for the consequences of my bad choices. To have your money stolen to pay for my irresponsibility rightly makes you mad and so it should. If it is your money, then you do have the right to regulate my behavior. If we have children, we know that because we provide them food and shelter, we have the right to regulate their behavior. If they begin engaging in behavior that we don’t like, we restrict their freedom. If they break a window playing ball, we take the ball away; confiscation of property. If they don’t eat their vegetables, they don’t get dessert; restriction of access. If they are out causing trouble with their friends, we confine them to quarters; restriction of association. If they cuss us out, we wash their mouth out with soap; restriction of speech. When they move out, however, and support themselves, we no longer have the right to exercise that level of control. If they break something, they pay for it. If they associate with the wrong people we can give them advice but that’s it. Being responsible for your actions, positive or negative, it the mark of a mature adult.
We have redefined our relationship with our government, however. We once interacted with our government as mature citizens. Today, our government interacts with us as subjects and children. It takes money from the productive and responsible and uses it to pay for the consequences of the people who are irresponsible and unproductive. As long as bad behavior is subsidized two things will be true. The irresponsible will not make responsible choices unless they are forced. The second is that the government will continue to assert it right to regulate all our behavior on the grounds that it is paying the bills, even though its with our money. If we choose to interact with our government as children, expecting it to meet our every need, then it will fill the role of parent and will exercise legitimate control as a consequence of that occupation.
The fix to this is simple. Remove the government safety net. For one hundred and fifty years of our history we got by just fine without it. There was no FDA, no welfare checks, no illegal drugs, no government health insurance or Social Security. Somehow, without the government intervening, the American citizen built this country from a few colonies on the eastern seaboard to a world power, economically and militarily. Somehow, hard drinking settlers tamed the west. Without government regulation, we all had food to eat and water to drink and roofs over our heads, and that food and shelter was considerably better than that in the Old World. If you engaged in negative behavior you bore the consequences. If you lost your job you found something else or you depended on your family or neighbors and they determined your “recovery” or the worth of putting their time and money into your life based on your cooperation. If you resorted to crime to support bad habits, justice was swift and harsh. Morality, justice and community were essential in such an environment and that is exactly the way it should be.
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