John Stossel‘s latest column examines government’s efforts to limit the risks we take.
When government gets in the business of deciding which risks are acceptable and which aren’t, nasty things happen.
This includes government’s attempt to improve life by regulating gambling and the use of medicine, banning recreational drugs and mandating safety devices in cars.
In what sense are we free if we can’t decide such things for ourselves?
Through the Food and Drug Administration, the government claims to protect us. But some people suffer because of that protection: Some die waiting for drugs to be approved.
Don’t we own our own bodies? Why, in a supposedly free country, do Americans, even when dying, meekly stand aside and let the state limit our choices?