A Change In The Winds
George McGovern, the 1972 democratic candidate for president has this to say:
Since leaving office I’ve written about public policy from a new perspective: outside looking in. I’ve come to realize that protecting freedom of choice in our everyday lives is essential to maintaining a healthy civil society.
Why do we think we are helping adult consumers by taking away their options? We don’t take away cars because we don’t like some people speeding. We allow state lotteries despite knowing some people are betting their grocery money. Everyone is exposed to economic risks of some kind. But we don’t operate mindlessly in trying to smooth out every theoretical wrinkle in life.
The nature of freedom of choice is that some people will misuse their responsibility and hurt themselves in the process. We should do our best to educate them, but without diminishing choice for everyone else.
Here is to hoping that in time some of my left leaning reader will also come to the realization that liberty means letting people have the freedom to make and be responsible for their mistakes.
March 7th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
Examples? I think I’ve disagreed with every regulation that comes under this heading. Of course you’ll probably want to use this argument against things like emissions controls, which are different becuase they hurt people otehr than the consumer.
March 7th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Once the government steps on enough people’s toes, the pendulum will swing back that way; it always does.
March 8th, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I guess old George is saying it’s a bad idea for us to be bailing out the banks with a lowering of interest rates and an economic stimulus package for their consumers…. I agree.