[thechat] US Elections

[Paul Cowan]

Hey all,

> I live in a country that continues to legislate against stupidity
> -- seat belt laws, insurance laws, forced chicken pox vaccinations, enough
> already!

I'll try and leave my personal beliefs out, but I think the difference
here is that in that case of chicken pox vaccinations (and seat belt
laws, _as applied to children_) is that the government is not intervening
to protect you from your own stupidity, but to protect your KIDS from your
stupidity.

Saying "I'm an adult, I can decide not to wear my seatbelt if I want
to is one thing" (there are arguments against it, but that's beside
the point).

Saying "I'm an adult, I'm not going to put a seatbelt on my kid." is
a different thing again. If the government has to legislate to make sure
that stupid people protect their _kids_, then so be it. It's not the kids'
fault their parent is stupid... you can have all the rights you want,
but I don't think you have the right to endanger the life of someone who
can't protect themself.

I think that's also the logic with vaccinations. You can say "I don't
want to be protected from illness" all you like, but the government
is saying that you can't expose your _kids_ to that without their
informed consent, and informed consent is not something a 3-year-old
can give.

I'm not saying it's RIGHT (or that it's wrong; and yes, I'm well
aware that there are arguments against immunisation), but that
the arguments aren't quite as simple as you might think.

Paul