Blog Seven

Continuing my “discourse” on decreasing government action, I will now write about why I think the government should not try to control what people put in their bodies. The government has increased its control over what foods, nutrients, and drugs that they want or don't want people to put in their bodies. This is a violation of personal privacy and liberty. I think people should be allowed to get the type of health care that they want, eat the foods they want, and take the drugs they want without punishment from the government. If they can't, then the government is restricting their freedom.

Big companies lobby for certain legislation that benefits them, not the government, economy, or majority of citizens. As a result, dangerous drugs and other products are put on the market while safe products that could serve as preventative health care are restricted, and so are peoples' liberties. I went to an acupuncturist one day and while filling out the forms I found out that traditional Chinese medicine “legally” cannot be used as primary health care in Texas. While I did not have to leave to see a western doctor for my specific reason for visiting, I did not like that I wouldn't have the option of seeing a traditional Chinese medicine doctor as a first resource for health care in the future.

As for “illicit” drugs, I think that a person's liberty to manage their own body should not be infringed upon by the government, even if what they decide to do might be harmful to themselves. I also think that if drugs were legal, they could be of higher and standardized quality which would reduce overdoses, they could be done and acquired in a safer way, and they could also support the economy. In conclusion, I think that peoples' liberties of privacy and the right to health care of their choice should not be infringed upon by the government.