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Or maybe, just maybe, we have no business outlawing an activity when the person involved is a consenting adult? Maybe we have no business telling anyone whether they should be smoking marijuana.
While I'm at it, this goes for prostitution, polygamy, gay marriage, and any other currently illegal activity in which everyone involved is a consenting adult.
You can be quite the enigma Fribur. On one hand, I see you advocating personal freedoms, without government intervention, and in other threads, I see you advocating taxation and government intervention, as far as taking care of it's citizens.....so you don't want the government to interfere with what you can do, but you do want the government to take care of you if you need them to. I don't know if there is an actually political term for it, but it really seems like governmental paternalism.
And not to be too denigrating, but it's like having a child/parent relationship, where you want to be able to do anything you want, but if you ever need anything or get into trouble, you want the government (parent) to bail you out.
Citizen (child): "Don't tell me what I can or can't do! I'm an adult! I'll do what I want! YOU CAN'T STOP ME !!@!@!@!@"
Citizen, 5 years later: "I'm not ready to move out of the house yet, keep supporting my room and board please"
Citizen, 5 years after that: "I'm in between jobs, can I move back home?''
Citizen: "I smoked some weed, got into a car accident.....can you pay for the damages and my medical bill? I would pay for it myself, but I have no money"
Citizen: "I've worked 30 years, used up all my savings living large, so now that I'm retired, can you give me an allowance so I can live the lifestyle I'm accustomed to?"
So in other words, do whatever you want to do, but when the shit hits the fan, have the government support you.
So if the government should have no role in regulating the activity adults can do, why on earth should they be able to regulate how much we get taxed, and where our tax dollars go? As a responsible adult, shouldn't I be able to decide where my money goes? If I want my tax dollars to go to education instead of welfare, shouldn't I be able to make that call?
So in part, I can agree with you, because I am fully in support of smaller government. I think the less the government interferes with its citizenry, the better. However, unlike you, I apply that to everything, including taxation and governmental agencies. I would like to see our government not only interfere less in personal liberties, but also to downsize in all it's bureaucratic aspects. Again, personal freedom = personal responsibility, so you are you so-called responsible, consenting adult that you profess to be, then you surely should be responsible enough to take care of your own problems that you may bring upon yourself.
As for Venen, probably the single greatest narcissist on these boards, I can only say that it's comforting to know that you at least stay true to your colors. Anyone who ever spent any time playing Everquest in the early Lanys years knows full well your philosophy of "well, if it benefits me, then it's OK" attitude in Lower Guk....I wonder how many people are still around from those early days.....oh that's right, you don't remember anyone accidently dying to your large FD pulls etc. while you were trying to experience. Ever. Never happened!
As in the other thread about how power determines what is right and wrong, you could not properly outline who gets to decide on what is moral and immoral, except I'm sure you think it's whatever it is in your eyes. So it comes as no suprise that you want to do whatever you want or whatever you feel is right, and feel that others should follow this same guideline....."rules are stupid and do not need to be followed if you don't think they are correct". To answer your question yet again about who determines the rules, it's the power that be. If you were in power, then you can determine the rule. In the US, as a democracy, it's the majority opinion, not any individual. To use your Texas example, if homosexuality is outlawed, then it's outlawed, despite what your personal feelings on the matter are. If you don't like it, then 1) move to a different country or region more in line with your beliefs, 2) rise to a position of power where you can affect change, 3) live with it. It goes both ways. I'm sure there are people in Texas now that feel like it's crap that homosexuality is allowed. You know what? Tough on them. If they don't want homosexuality around them, then pick up their shit and move to China or whereever it might still be outlawed.....or they can try and see if they can raise a majority to change the laws to outlaw homosexuality again.
The problem as a narcissist, Venen, is that you think you are always right, or that your opinion somehow matters more. It doesn't. It only matters if you are in a position to do something about it. So unless you are a lawmaker, powerbroker, or lobbyist, then really the only person who cares what you think is you. But as a narcissist, I'm sure that's exactly how you like it, and as someone who probably has never been put in a position of power, why you have such difficulty understanding it.