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Politics : The Environmentalist Thread
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To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (758)3/19/1999 9:21:00 PM
From: D. Long  Read Replies (1) of 36917
 
<<The tobacco industry is a classic case of giving the public what they want mentality above and beyond long term public health.>>

You're posting to a smoker, so you wont get much sympathy out of that currently in vogue mortal enemy of the public interest. Yes, it was giving people what they wanted. No one twisted anyone's arm to start or continue smoking. Health risk notices have been posted on every pack of smokes now for over a decade, its not as if no one knew. If you choose to smoke, knowing the risks, then you take responsibility for the consequences of that action. If people wish to smoke and give themselves lung cancer, that is their right, and I dont want some politician playing paternalism with me. And please dont bring up second hand smoke, you inhale more carcinogens stepping outside and breathing then you do in a room full of smoke. Personal responsibility and the liberty to decide for yourself what is your "good," that should be the goal of every person that respects human dignity. When it comes to interferance in individuals lives, the burden of doubt is always in favor of liberty (to paraphrase Feinberg), because almost axiomatically, government has a tendency to interfere at the wrong time and in the wrong way (to paraphrase Mill).

You can not untangle private enterprise and personal liberty.
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