So, who do you trust to run your life, if not yourself? Are you really ready to force that choice on others?
What's happened to the ability to say "that guy's an idiot and he can go to hell his own way, I don't have to follow him down"?
What's happened to the ability to say "that guy's an idiot and he can go to hell his own way, I don't have to follow him down"?
So, for instance, as someone who uses substantial amounts of drugs, I support extensive prosecution of drug users - not because I don't think people should be able to use drugs but because I think there is a threshold of responsibility for drug use.
People are unable to accept that this threshold exists, but absent that threshold, many will fall into the thrall of the drug-induced haze. I have tested my own abilities here, having used drugs extensively, then abstained for half a decade as a test, and then used again. But most have not. They are not as capable as I am.
Given that, and given that people will not accept a test of their abilities, there is one surefire way to enforce the threshold: make it illegal and then permit use among those capable.
This is the status quo. Walk around any tech office and point in any direction. A ray projected from your finger will likely hit someone who has used cocaine, MDMA, LSD, Shrooms, or some other Schedule I substance that is not marijuana.
I'm into personal liberty. But I do think we need to figure out this problem of antisocial behavior.
First and most obvious, sometimes there are reasons that person is not only hurting themselves, like secondhand smoke indoors.
Second, as much as we are indoctrinated to believe otherwise, consumption habits are not purely individual choice. We all take conscious and unconscious shortcuts every day, and they can be exploited by marketers to get us to make poor decisions. It’s impossible (or at least very exhausting) to be a perfectly rational consumer when you have corporations that do everything in their power to get you to consume irrationally.
I’m not saying you should trust the state to make these decisions for you, just that your libertarian view leaves out a lot of nuance.
doesn't work when we basically live in a hive-mind