Do you think practicing unlicensed plastic surgery via the internet should be fine also? If it's half the price?
You have to draw lines to protect the public.
You have to draw lines to protect the public.
I am sick of those lines. Those lines have caused me to lose the ability to smoke in a bar (or basically anywhere else) for christ sake. Those lines have created "helmet laws" and all sorts of "protect Joe from himself" bullshit laws that exist for the sole purpose of annoying me, near as I can tell.
Nobody makes Joe sit at the bar any more than anybody makes him get in my Cab (which I intend to use as a battering ram). If, in the course of my cabbing, I were to break an actual law (speed limit, driving uninsured, etc.) then I should be punished. Until then, let me drive recklessly and force small talk with strangers in peace. If you don't let me do that then you've created a law to protect Joe from his own idiocy which is bad enough, but you've also ruined a perfectly good market opportunity.
This isn't about protecting joe from himself, it's about protecting vulnerable people who might make a poor decision just to save a bit of cash.
Similar to smoking - it's an expensive addiction (For the smoker and society) and should be actively discouraged. Also it's kinda nice not to have smokers blowing their smoke in mine+my kids faces any more.
Secondly, why is it the Government's job (or anyone's job) to "protect vulnerable people who might--" okay, I can't even do this. That phrase means the same thing as "protect them from themselves" -- the individual makes a poor decision which affects the individual. Since it falls to a parent to make responsible decisions for an ignorant child, you've once again failed to make a point. "Once" I have kids (I like your finality), I will probably make sure to avoid having them raped to save $10. I could be wrong.
As for smoking, it is once again an individual choice. Were there no smokers, I'm sure there would be others ready and willing to use tax dollars to pay their medical expenses (which I have never done, and since I've given years of service to this country everyone can fuck off anyway). If a private establishment decides they wish, for whatever reason, to permit smoking on their property, that is a right the company rationally deserves and in no way warrants regulation by the Government or any other regulatory body.
If you prefer non-smoking establishments, show it with your wallet. If such a time came when it was detrimental to a business to afford said luxury to smokers, they would stop. What you feel is "kinda nice" should not warrant a law. It's called personal preference and we all have it. If all of my personal preferences were turned into law, there would be many changes to the world, most of which many people would conservatively call "cruel and unusual."
The smoker is smoking; a poor decision that affects them. You're in a smokey bar; a poor decision that affects you. The only difference is the smoker isn't complaining. There's no sense complaining about a situation one puts themselves in; there's even less sense in making laws which attempt to keep people from putting themselves in said situations.
A private establishment could force compulsory games of Russian Roulette for all I care. As long as there's a sign on the door.
Well, I'd say it's as bad as rape by licensed taxi drivers.
I mean, this is all hyperbole today. Do I think this is the way deregulation should work, with someone just up and deciding to ignore it and forcing some ad hoc response? No. Do I think it's a big enough deal right now to waste time outlawing? No. Would I fund it? No.
Don't tread on me.