Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry
I hear you, 100%. The anti-regulation crowd is concerned with the "slippery slope" of authoritarianism, but deregulation is a slippery slope as well. Distrust of government is not only justified, I think it is healthy to an extent. The nice thing about it though is that, as opposed to the private sector, accountability (at least in theory) is more possible. For a purely hypothetical example, a wealthy person who spends their life conning people out of their money in business might get away with it if they have good enough lawyers, but they could run into trouble if they do this as a prominent member of the government.
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In the private sector, businesses that develop bad reputations often don't survive, and people responsible can be sued. Have you ever heard of senators being sued for making unfair policy? As far as prominent members of government running into trouble, I've got 2 words for you to google: Cattle Futures.
I have always thought a great example of good government regulation is weights and measures (whatever the actual department name is... maybe Commerce?) When I'm driving cross country and stop at a gas station, it's good to know when I buy 15 gallons of gas from a station I will never visit again, I am actually going to get 15 gallons.
On the mask thing, and speaking of slippery slopes, I wonder this:
If a person with HIV infects someone, they can be held criminally liable. What if someone who had Covid sneezed on an elderly, vulnerable person, who then died of Covid complications? I suppose the first thing would be to try to establish it was that specific person who introduced the virus to the victim. Suppose that could be done without reasonable doubt. Did the person know they had Covid? Should they have known? Did they have symptoms, and did they test themself? And, finally, did they take any precautions, like masking up?
If this whole Covid thing was playing out differently, meaning, if lawsuits were flying against people suspected of willfully spreading the virus, I'll bet a lot more people would be using masks, if for no other reason than to protect themselves against liability.
That's my random thought for the day.