ruveyn wrote:
Do you object to the government regulating every last detail of your life. Telling you what to eat and not to eat. Telling you how to work. If you object to such detailed government regulation of your one and only life, then you are a libertarian.
Thomas Jefferson once wrote: Were the government to ordain we we should reap and when we should sow, we should soon all want for bread.
ruveyn
Alas, a tad too extreme a perspective to my way of thinking.
The government has no proper role in regulating every last detail of my life.
But I do expect the government to set up rules so that the food I buy is safe for human consumption.
I do expect the government to set up rules so that only properly qualified people are eligible to undertake certain professions.
I do expect the government to set up rules so that my house won't fall down, or burn to the ground in the ordinary course of living in it.
I do expect the government to set up rules that protect my safety while I go about my daily life, so that I can make choices about the risks that I am willing to take.
I do expect the government to set up rules so that I can obtain redress from those who injure or cheat me.
There is a difference between laws and regulations that have the effect of making society function more effectively and "regulating every last detail of your life." If the rhetoric were less absolute, I think we would find a great deal of common ground.
_________________
--James