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Not surprisingly, American statists are saying that the Titan submersible, which recently imploded down deep in the ocean while headed toward the Titanic shipwreck, should have been subjected to regulations by federal nanny-state bureaucrats. They are saying that the Titan was constructed in an unsafe manner and that the bureaucrats would never have allowed it to be used without major changes in its construction. All five people who were killed in the tragedy, statists claim, would be alive today if the federal regulatory process had been applied to the submersible.
That’s just a classic nanny-state mentality. Don’t let adults make their own decisions with respect to risk. Instead, force them to subject themselves to the control and decision-making of their political daddy or mommy, who will supervise and take care of them.
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Why shouldn’t adults be free to make these types of decisions for themselves? Every one of those people who were traveling on the Titan understood the risks of doing so. The owner of the craft had been warned, time and time again, that the design of the craft was not safe. The travelers on the submersible were all adults who signed releases in which they were repeatedly advised of the risk of death. They all knowingly took their chances.
Every year, there are people climbing Mount Everest. A number of them periodically die. That’s because climbing that mountain comes with big risks. Should the nanny state prohibit them from doing so? That would certainly reduce the number of deaths on Mount Everest.
I say no. I say that those mountain climbers have the right to make their own decisions when it comes to risks. If they choose to climb Mount Everest knowing the risks involved, so be it. Why should that be the business of nanny-state bureaucrats?
The same principle applies to submersibles and every other peaceful activity. In a genuinely free society, people have the unfettered right to engage in any activity they choose, no matter how dangerous, immoral, irresponsible, or unpopular, so long as their activity does not involve the imitation of force or fraud against others. In a genuinely free society, there are also no nanny-state bureaucrats to interfere with people’s freedom.
The post No Nanny-State Regulations for Submersibles appeared first on The Future of Freedom Foundation.
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