Comment by _heimdall
3 days ago
The Biden administration absolutely wanted to mandate covid vaccines, they just didn't believe they would get it past the courts. Instead they leveraged their ability to drive a massive smear campaign against anyone in the public who chose not to get vaccinated.
And to be clear, vaccines are mandated for anyone who wishes to use the school system they already pay for via property taxes.
Seatbelts are also mandated in the vehicles they paid for with their own money.
Now imagine junkies could get high off of seat belts.. then how do you regulate??
7% seatbelt use tax, with a required seatbelt fastener technology that charges you every click
There are states that require cars to be crash tested with the dummies without seatbelts. This then encumbers auto designers to cater for that crash test. Some cars will never be homologated in the US because of this, loads of other cars could be more spacious and safer if it was not for this requirement. And it is just 3 states.
Sure, are you assuming I'm not similarly opposed to that authority?
If I crash without a seatbelt on and die, my going through the windshield harms only myself.
The government shouldn't have any mandating what we can and can't do if the only victim in said crime would be the same person doing that thing.
This is why the libertarian argument does not make sense to me.
You crashing without a seatbelt and dying harms others as well:
1. Your body as a projectile could harm others.
2. The emotional harm of others seeing your dead body and the horrific injuries. Also the emotional harm on your friends and family.
3. The increase to my taxes and healthcare costs because people have to deal with your dead body. Also, if you almost die when going through the windshield, the costs are much greater trying to save your life than if you wore a seatbelt, as the injuries will be greater and could require things like air ambulances etc...
4. Your body being unrestrained means that your car can cause way more damage, including hitting other cars or pedestrians and injuring and killing them.
It is not a victimless crime.
16 replies →
Are you assuming I don’t agree with you? I just stated a fact. People can interpret that fact however they’d like.
When someone else crashes into you on the street your tax dollars paid for, you should be free to not agree with seatbelts.
1 reply →
> If I crash without a seatbelt on and die, my going through the windshield harms only myself.
Mostly, yes. Whereas if you fail to get vaccinated and therefore spread a disease, you are harming others.
1 reply →
I see nothing wrong with mandating vaccines if you want to exist in society. You want to use public services? Be a responsible part of the public. Vaccines were once heralded as miracles of science, because they are. It wasn’t until the U.S. began deemphasizing education and encouraging anti-intellectualism that we lost our collective minds.
That only makes sense IMO if paying for said public services is optional. If one has to pay taxes to fund public services it seems unreasonable to say they also must get vaccinated or they can't use the very things they are paying for.
That’s a fair rebuttal. A counter - though not entirely so, depending on the logic behind your statement - is that public schools (in the U.S., anyway) are paid for by taxes, even if you have no children who are benefiting from it.
2 replies →
[dead]