SubscribeBanning Smokers
Thursday, December 25th, 2003Here we go. We’ve went from banning smoking to banning smokers. Now people are being refused jobs and even fired for using tobacco on their own time. As if telling private restaurant and bar owners they can’t allow smoking in their establishments wasn’t a big enough step towards fascism, now Big Brother controls what you do in your living room behind closed doors.
Those of you who cry for a public health care system, but don’t subsist exclusively on bean sprouts and tofu will want to pay special attention to this.
The people discriminating against the smokers do so on the grounds that its too expensive to pay the health care costs of someone who is potentially taking risks with their long-term health. They think its unfair, if they’re going to pick up the bill for someones health care, that the person can engage it behavior likely to increase the amount of those medical bills. I can’t really disagree with the logic.
While we’re at it, I’d also like to see public employees prohibited from having high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and being fat. Those are all risk factors for heart disease – a very expensive malady, and anyone suffering from them needs to be removed immediately from the government payroll. Oh yeah, the ones who pass their blood pressure tests and get to keep their job need to be forced to exercise three times a week. On their own time.
Now that they’re saying fast food and junk food increases your risk of cancer, any government employee caught indulging in a Big Mac can get canned just like the cop that was fired after someone wrote a anonymous letter accusing him of smoking at a party.
That all sounds pretty silly doesn’t it? But can you tell me where I crossed the line from rational to unreasonable? This is the kind of thing that is already happening.
This is a great example of what would be devastatingly wrong with a public health care system. As soon as the government pays for keeping you healthy, they get to start telling you what to do with your life.
My question is, if they can tell cops they can’t smoke, why can’t they tell welfare recipients not to?
Note: This first appeared on my old blog in December of 2003.
