The Heartless Libertarian Strikes Again

Nature doesn't give a damn about anyone in particular. I feel bad about people dying due to from events beyond their control, such as the victims of the Malaysian Tsunami. What I can't muster is much sympathy for those who bring problems upon themselves. A person whose house has been wiped out by a hurricane would get my sympathy, but that runs thin when it is the third house they had on that spot.

The Jawa Report drives the point of personal responsibility home with brutal succintness.

If you knock some strange chick up in a moment of ecstasy inspired passion, it's your problem. I don't want to send you to jail, I don't want to send you to rehab, I'm not going to say that what you are doing is okay- it's not okay. It's just not my problem.

If you get AIDS because you're a geek and playing catcher is the only way you can afford your next hit, I'm sorry, really really sorry, but how is that my or the government's problem.

Yeah, call me heartless. Life is a bitch. And so is personal responsibility.

I don't care what caused a reckless driver's impairment or whether a guy was stoned or sober when he raped a woman. Reckless driving and rape are illegal, and it would be entirely appropriate to make the penalties in all cases the maximum saved for either chemical impairment or sobriety. If you do drugs because of peer pressure, then you are still responsible for jumping off that metaphorical cliff.

Ultimately, I believe that it is better that a smack user overdose than a smack dealer's uninvolved little sister get gunned down in a turf war. One person's self-destructed life does not justify another's life of pain because a doctor is too scared to prescribe appropriate opiates.

Heartless? Not really. I have heart, I just don't give mine out indiscriminately.

Hat Tip: Protein Wisdom