Should It Be the Government's Job to Try to Keep People Healthy?

            The majority of Americans would agree that health has value. It is also evident that what we put into our bodies affects our health; that is, food, fluids, etc. One thing is sure: many Americans are not where they should be in terms of health. Health is essential to life, so the majority of individuals would agree that health is valuable.

            What is the reason for government? There are many arguments for purposes or roles of government, and one of them is definitely this: to protect its people’s unalienable (or God-given) rights.

            In 1776, Thomas Jefferson was drafting the Declaration of Independence. This document would include a list of things that King George did that injured the colonies, a statement declaring independence from Great Britain, and many fundamental governmental principles that this nation was founded on. As Jefferson was writing the document’s first draft, he originally penned these words: “men are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and property." This word didn’t end up in the final Declaration, but Jefferson and many others would agree that property is a fundamental God-given right. John Locke even said so.

            How does the principle of the unalienable right to property apply to our bodies? Our bodies are the ultimate element of our property; one of God’s great gifts to us. God has given us freedom to do what we please with our bodies, so we should be able to decide what we put into our bodies. These are self-evident truths. The government is here to secure our rights, not to infringe upon them. The power to tell us what to put into our bodies derives not from the government, but from God. Since God has given us each agency to do what we want with our bodies, the government should not be controlling what we eat.

            In John Stossel’s Fox News hour, “Myths, Lies, and Complete Stupidity,” he shows multiple examples of ways that the government is infringing on our right to choose what we eat. For example, the mayor of New York City has outlawed drinking cups 32 oz. or larger from businesses that he can control. This is outrageous! First of all, this is restraining the right of the people to partake of what they desire. This is an unalienable right that should not be taken away from any person in the land of opportunity.

            Of course, just as all other rights are, this right only goes so far that it does not infringe on the rights of others. Many substances cause individuals to do things that they wouldn’t normally do without those substances. For this reason, many drugs and other substances are outlawed in the United States, and this is how it should be. The government has a duty to secure the rights of all of its citizens, not just the rights of a few. A right is not a right if it takes freedom away from another. The government has a duty to outlaw certain substances in order to secure the rights of the sum of its people.

Thomas Jefferson originally penned the
words, "Life, Liberty, and Property" when he
was writing the Declaration of Independence

            The second reason why the New York mayor’s plan is outrageous is this: it hardly makes a positive influence on the people that it affects. Instead of just buying one cup, people have to use two, or they must find another means to drink as much as they previously were. People still drink the same amount of fluid that they’ve always been drinking, and for this reason, this law is only a nuisance. It only makes life harder for individuals and companies.

            Finally, this law is outrageous because it infringes on the rights of companies and entities that it affects. Companies should have the right to sell whatever size of substance that they think is most efficient. If that means that companies are selling ten gallon cups, let it be. Once again, government is construed to secure the rights of the people, not to tell the people how they need to live their lives.

            Much has been done by the government to infringe on the rights of the people, and it is the people’s job to stop this and keep it from happening, just like the Declaration of Independence states: “…when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.” We need to get this country back to the principles that it was founded on. Health is good, but freedom is better.

            It is self-evident, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, that our Creator has endowed us with the unalienable right to property. It is our choice to do what we want with our property as long as we aren’t hurting others. It is okay for the government to promote health, but it is not right for the government to try to keep people healthy. And that’s a self-evident truth.