Politicians propose regulating citizens’ liver use to reduce liver diseases. Absurd, isn’t it? Of course, it is. But let me share a story with you that needs to be spread.
Nick was a good man, married for 15 years, a father of two, working full-time. He operated forklifts at a company in rural Texas. His salary wasn’t great, but he managed to provide a good 3-bedroom home, education, healthcare, food, and entertainment for his family. On Sundays, they went to church and then spent hours tossing balls in the yard.
One Friday night, exhausted Nick, encouraged by his wife Mandy, went to the bar with friends for a beer before heading home. “Yeah, I think I deserve it,” he thought.
Leaning on the bar, looking at his half-empty glass, ready to go home, he hears someone trying to say something. “This should be restricted.” It took Nick about 2 or 3 seconds to shift his focus from his home to the short-haired girl with strange blue hair. “Leave me alone, you fatty,” he thought, but all that came out of his mouth was, “I think I didn’t understand what you said.“
— This should be restricted. Drinking. You drink, get sick, and burden the healthcare system. I have to pay for your treatment.
— Excuse me, miss, but don’t you think this is going too far? Everyone has the right to have a beer on the weekend. (Meanwhile, all Nick could think about was how he should have finished that glass faster, and none of this would be happening.)
— We should nationalize your liver. Since it’s the state that takes care, it’s only natural for it to manage it.
— Are you crazy? The liver is mine, no one will take care of it but me. – Said Nick, now gritting his teeth.
— Okay, let’s compromise, and if both of us, in the name of Democracy, agree to a middle ground? Neither me nor you. I give up a bit, you give up a bit, how about that? Let’s nationalize only half of your liver, you can keep the other 50%. Fair, isn’t it?
— Well, if it’s in the name of Democracy, then it’s okay, I guess…
The blue-haired girl smiled, took her LSD pill with a big sip of absinthe, and called an Uber to McDonald’s.
Some freedoms, values, and rights are too important even to be a topic of discussion. The debate about the liver may sound absurd, but in the realm of facts, discussing whether a mother should have the means to defend her children’s lives is much more grotesque.
The right to access firearms is too important to be decided by politicians. It is a right that belongs to every free person and should never be infringed upon.
