Originally Posted by ADL Colin

If Michael Moore makes a movie about the evils of cigarettes that doesn't mean I will be convinced by watching it that it is the government's responsibility to ban them. Now that would be a great flick, right? You could follow around people whose loved ones are dying of emphysema and cancer. You could show some mind-blowing statistics. You could find someone that contracted lung cancer from second-hand smoke and follow them to their deathbed. You could interview executives at Altria and follow all the money they donate to campaigns. Now you and I know that 400,000 people per year die in the United States from cigarette related illnesses. 1 in every 5 deaths in the US is smoking related. Horribe, right? "Are we just gonna let these people kill themselves?" All these things are true. The statistics are obvious and I don't think there is anyone that would argue that banning cigarettes would save lives. Yet I don't want to ban them - and neither do you - despite the fact that the world would be better off without them. Why? Because there are other principles at work besides maximizing life expectancy and minimizing financial burden.

I don't care what doctors make in the US vs the UK vs the EU. I don't care about doctor's salaries one bit. I am in favor of smaller, less intrusive government.