Posted in libertarianism, tagged healthcare, freedom, liberty, nanny-state, paternalism, health, public health, responsibility, behavior, risk, san francisco, smoking on July 16, 2008 | 4 Comments »
From the SF gate report:
Mayor Gavin Newsom has proposed prohibiting tobacco sales in pharmacies, including Walgreens and Rite Aid. The city’s public health chief said the proposal is modeled after rules in eight provinces in Canada but has not been tried anywhere in the United States.
Supervisor Chris Daly has proposed legislation that would vastly limit [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, people, tagged victimless crimes, moral police, government, paternalism, death, accident, gambling, law enforcement, collateral damage on July 3, 2008 | No Comments »
The wages of sin is death. What constitutes sinful behavior is going to be decided by us, the government. We will do everything in our power to ensure that your children grow up in a moral environment.
Sometimes shit will happen in the process. Culosi– poor guy – his fate was an unfortunate one. But you know what, some collateral damage is unavoidable in matters like [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, people, tagged censorship, first amendment, freedom of expression, morality, obscenity, offended feelings, paternalism, pleasure, pornography, sex, stagliano on July 1, 2008 | No Comments »
Adult film producer John Stagliano — facing up to 40 years in jail if convicted in a currently running obscenity case – debates Pepperdine Law School’s Barry McDonald on free speech vs obscenity. Money quote from Stagliano:
Barry, your point is that people must be forced to not think things that you don’t like, and for that [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, news and links, tagged freedom, healthcare, japan, nanny-state, obesity, paternalism, public health, responsibility on June 25, 2008 | No Comments »
I had written earlier about the Japanese government acting as health police to force its citizens to slim down. Here’s a CNN video on the matter.
One thing struck me after watching the video – not many people seem that unhappy at what I would consider an outrageous interference into one’s private matters. Well, if they have that attitude, I guess [...]
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George F. Will believes that Barack Obama is a ‘libertarian paternalist’ at heart.
I had made the same point in this post from a couple of weeks back.
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Posted in libertarianism, politics, tagged barney frank, bill, freedom, gambling, government, internet, internet gambling, laws, nanny-state, paternalism, poker, protest, regulation, ron paul on June 23, 2008 | No Comments »
If you, like me, think it is outrageous that the US government tells you that you may not indulge in internet gambling, you can call, fax or email House Financial Services Committee and let your views be known. For more details, click here.
If you decide to act, please do so by Tuesday. That’s when the house [...]
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Posted in politics, tagged obama, election 2008, nanny-state, workers, paternalism, economics, regulation, libertarian paternalism, retirement, taxes on June 14, 2008 | No Comments »
This article begins:
Democrat Barack Obama told voters Saturday he would push an aggressive economic agenda as president: cutting taxes for the middle class, raising taxes on the wealthy, pouring money into “green energy” and requiring employers to set up retirement saving plans for their workers.
Hidden deep inside the article, however, is the following passage:
He said [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, tagged behavior, freedom, health, healthcare, japan, liberty, morality, nanny-state, obesity, paternalism, public health, reason, responsibility, risk on June 13, 2008 | No Comments »
One of the dangers of publicly funded healthcare is that it increases the likelihood of the government micromanaging your health and other private affairs. Jacob Sullum wrote an excellent article in Reason last year about the totalitarian implications of public health. The Japanese government is the latest to prove him right.
Under a national law that [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, people, politics, tagged authoritarian, clinton, government, liberty, mccain, nanny-state, obama, paternalism, patriotism, radley balko, reason on May 28, 2008 | No Comments »
After landing in Columbus, the [Hillary Clinton] campaign entourage headed by motorcade to Zanesville, a town of about twenty-five thousand, sixty miles away, for what was billed as an economic “summit.” When one speaker offered encomiums to Clinton rather than economic prescriptions, she gently reprimanded her, saying, “We’re going to put a moratorium on compliments.” [...]
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Another post by Cass Sunstein in the libertarian paternalism series.
Meanwhile, I agree with those who do not like the term ‘libertarian paternalism’. Among the serious alternatives I have encountered so far, I think ‘non-coercive paternalism’ fits best.
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Here’s another post by Cass Sunstein.
Also, I find one of the comments below that post worth repeating in full:
Having effectively evicted us from the label “liberal,” the Left now wants to appropriate the word “libertarian” as well.
I guess we should be flattered that our intellectual real estate is appreciating, but I am concerned that the [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, tagged freedom, liberty, volokh, government, paternalism, libertarian, libertarian paternalism, choice, public policy, schemes, cass sunstein, influence on April 14, 2008 | No Comments »
A guest-blog at Volokh by Cass Sunstein on libertarian paternalism. Hopefully we will see more writings on the subject.
Unlike some hardcore libertarians, I am sympathetic to the idea of libertarian paternalism, particularly the “one-click” variety that Cass mentions. In any case, as even libertarian opponents of the idea will agree, libertarian paternalism is certainly a huge improvement over [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, news and links, tagged freedom of speech, freedom, censorship, freedom of expression, obscenity, pornography, paternalism, moral legislation, moral agenda, videos, adult, bush, porn, felony on April 11, 2008 | 4 Comments »
“I believe that freedom is the deepest need of every human soul”
- George. W. Bush
“Pornography exists everywhere, of course, but when it comes into societies in which it’s difficult for young men and women to get together and do what young men and women often like doing, it satisfies a more general need; and, while [...]
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Posted in libertarianism, tagged crimes, dildoes, freedom, lawrence vs texas, laws, legalization, liberty, moral legislation, morals, paternalism, sex, sex toys, sexual freedom, values, victimless crimes on April 8, 2008 | No Comments »
Jeffrey Rosen, in an excellent article, reminds us that moral legislation is far from dead. Indeed, as Rosen points out, the repeal of certain laws (such as those that criminalized homosexuality) should not be viewed as a victory for civil libertarianism but merely as a statement that American society no longer views the concerned act as wrong. An important [...]
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“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good [...]
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