Michael Savage: Video: FNC's Geraldo Rivera At-Large: Anne Coulter & Meme Roth Debate The Nanny State

Source:The FreeState

I’m glad the women on the show that Geraldo called a Liberal admitted that she’s not and goes issue by issue instead. Because there’s nothing liberal about the nanny state, because it’s all about big government and the establishment knowing better how individuals should live their own lives than the individuals themselves. But she did make a good point on the show that if you want to discourage healthy behavior and discourage unhealthy behavior. You do that by having people pay for their own bad decisions instead and not let them past those costs onto society and you do that by taxing unhealthy products lets say at high rates. 

And not taxing at all things that are good for people. Instead of taking the nanny-state approach and saying these things are bad for you whether they are junk food or soft drinks or tobacco or alcohol and making this paternalistic argument, "not do these things or else, the or else we’ll send you to a place that’s even worse for you, than what you are currently doing which is jail". And if the person is a serial junk food eater or soft drink drinker, you know a real menace to society, "we’ll send those people to prison for their own good". What’s good for people about jail or prison.

There should be a new rule for anyone who defends the nanny state whether they are on the Right or Left. And that rule is that they must admit that they meaning government knows better how individuals should live their own lives. People who they’ve never met in life, better than individuals themselves. I know right, it would take a big set of balls, bigger than Anne Coulter's even just to feel that way in private and another set of big balls to admit that’s how you feel in public. But that’s exactly what the nanny state is. 

Whether it comes progressive paternalists on the Left who want to ban junk food, soft drinks, tobacco, alcohol and hate speech. Who have this idea of freedom that people should be free to not have to think for themselves or make decisions with their own lives. Or neoconservative paternalists on the Right who want to ban pornography, homosexuality, gambling, violent adult movies, certain music that came on the scene post 1950s. To protect what they would call our moral character for us again as if government knows better for the people themselves how the people should live their own lives.

The difference between liberal democracy which is what I’m in favor of and the nanny state, has to do with freedom. The freedom for individuals to make their own decisions with their own lives. And then are held accountable for their own decisions that we understand as a society that no one is perfect and we are all going to make bad decisions at some point. But as long as we aren’t hurting innocent people with our own decisions, we don’t arrest people for being dumb with their own lives. 

But then you get to the nanny state from the Left or Right, you are talking about people whose lives are so boring because they’ve either never taken a chance in life or have taken very few chances with their lives and have such little to do with their own lives and as a result have their feet so far up their asses, that’s right both feet, that they feel the need to mind other people’s business and try to control other people for their own good. There is an effective way for government to promote healthy behavior and discourage unhealthy behavior. 

That doesn’t hurt individual freedom and doesn’t create a nanny state and it's very simple. You promote healthy behavior by subsidizing it and you discourage unhealthy behavior by taxing it and taxing it to the point that makes people at least think, "is this a good way for me to spend my money or not. Or are there better ways for me to spend the money that I’ve earned and made in life".