What I would consider a very large issue in that faction of injustice would be state-required seatbelts.

Few, if any, studies have shown an overwhelming correlation between increased accidents and lower seat belt useage. Not wearing one hurts no one but yourself.

When every state should be modeling Vermont you know we are in a poor being.

I'd like someone to try and convince me why my government should be able to force me into doing actions that only effect me and my happiness.

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Carpe Diem

In the US, most people would have health insurance, however, there's a fair chunk of those out there who do not. So if they aren't wearing those seatbelts and crash, causing them to fly through the windshielf at 40 mph, who's paying for that hospital visit? None other than the public obviously.

Generally the people who don't have health insurance are among the lower classes, so it's a little unreasonable to expect them to be able to pay for a $1000 ambulance ride (or $12,000 chopper ride if they crashed in the middle of nowhere), another few thousand dollars for the MRIs, CT scans, etc., perhaps some more money for blood transfusion, the ER visit as a whole, etc. At the cheapest, we're looking at $10,000 here, which is a big load for somebody who doesn't have a lot of money to pay.

Generally, the state will cover the entire amount right there and they'll wind up paying back the state in small amounts each month. But suppose they default on a loan and have to declare bankruptcy, as so many wind up doing? Looks like the taxpayers will wind up having to eat the costs.

Fact is, if there's going to be a chance that paying for peoples' hospital visits like this would be funded by the public, then it's very reasonable to create a law which helps prevent these accidents from becoming as bad and expensive as they do. The less money the state has to spend, the better.

Post edited at 2:58 am on July 18, 2008 by Bud2400

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Not wearing one hurts no one but yourself.

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Insurgent-You are correct. I was pretty much assuming that this is a situation where there is no one else in the car.

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Carpe Diem

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I've got spurs that jingle jangle jingle.
As I go riding merrily along.
And they sing, "Oh, ain't you glad you're single?"
And that song ain't so very far from wrong.

Now onwards to my point -- the role of any modern government is to protect and support the citizens of its nations. This includes our rights -and- our safety. Sometimes the government is reduced to a role where it is forced to tell you not to do something silly because you might hurt yourself. It's fine and dandy to say, "It's my life, and I'll risk it however I want!" However, it's also fine and dandy for the government to turn around and say, "When we were constructed, we swore to do everything we could to keep you safe; that includes keeping you safe from yourself some of the time."

Whereas I appreciate how Darwinian this idea is in theory -- that being that the people silly enough not to wear seat belts will suffer much higher fatality rates and die before fully realizing their procreative potential. Those who survive will teach their children to wear their seat belts and soon, like the good species we are, we will grow stronger overall for it.

However, I often hate to apply an idea like Neo-Darwinism to the human species because we have sentience -- this thread is proving that because some of us are trying to convince the others to adopt practices that will increase your odds at survival, where we should really be hoping you die to increase our chances to mate.  

Anyway, tangent aside -- buckle up, kids! I've been in a horrendous wreck and my seatbelt saved my bacon -- it's one of those things you only can truly appreciate after it's saved your life, but take my word on it and just wear it anyway in the meantime.

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Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.
Robert Louis Stevenson

Quite frankly, I don't give a damn about the issue at hand. When I'm in a car, I wear a seatbelt. When people are in my car, they wear seatbelts. I don't give a fuck whatever else people do that puts them at more of a risk for the sake of going against "the man." It's not a liberty issue for me; I've more important things to worry about and fight for on the liberty front.

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When they leave me, they're all smiles.
When they leave you, they're in tears.

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Keep your fears to yourself, but share your courage with others.
Robert Louis Stevenson