I’m a long-time listener and I love the show.

As an anarchist living in NH for the free state project, I care deeply about liberty. I have noticed a troubling trend among many, perhaps a majority of free-staters I have met here in NH. Early movers to the FSP that I have met tend to be young and healthy, but I have noticed a great deal of self-destructive behavior, most prominently tobacco smoking. However, this question could refer to all types of self-destructive behaviors that specifically have long-term health consequences (obesity, smoking, drug abuse, uncontrolled medical conditions like high blood pressure, etc). I have no statistics to back up my observation, but it seems that the smoking rate among free-staters is much higher than in the general population

As someone who loves liberty, I believe people have a right to do whatever they want with their body, including destroying it. However, I also care about people’s health and I feel that most people engaging in these behaviors have no sense of the long-term consequences. I have seen the devastating consequences of long-term cigarette smoking, most notably lung disease (emphysema/chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and cardiovascular disease which result in very poor quality of life and a very high level of health care (which is very costly). I suspect that most smokers know that it is bad for them but don’t understand that it sets them up for heart-attacks and severe lung disease requiring oxygen at home. After that painfullly long introduction, here is my question:

What will happen when young otherwise healthy liberty-minded smokers develop these diseases which require very expensive healthcare? Most of these individuals don’t have health savings set aside or health insurance, much less the long-term care insurance which would be necessary to pay for their end-of life care without using the government medical system. Is it cognitive dissonance which allows this, or do people just not think about the long-term consequences of their behaviors? I see this as problematic for individuals who wish to remain principled in terms of liberty but will eventually require care which they cannot afford due to their self-inflicted illnesses. I predict many of these individuals will end up utilizing medicare and/or medicaid out of necessity or will simply be unable to pay for their hospital bills, both of which run contrary to the principles of liberty. Perhaps you could have a guest on the show who is a smoker to explain their position on this issue. Thanks a lot for the show; keep up the good work.

- The anonymous hippopotamus