Cass Sunstein, who has previously argued essentially that all rights are granted to us by government, argues in a new book, Nudge, that people should be allowed to make choices, as long as they are directed to make the right choices.
Sunstein says of himself and his co-author,
We agree with people who want to allow the market to flourish, so we are libertarians in that sense. On the other hand, we don’t believe you can just have markets and then declare victory. It is legitimate to be paternalistic in terms of steering people in directions that will increase the likelihood they will do well.
They are, then, “libertarian paternalists,“ or perhaps paternalistic libertarians.
Perhaps they say it with a wink. Because it’s a little like being an establishmentarian revolutionary, or an Islamic-jihadist agnostic.
Reader Comments:
Well, what sort of nudge do non-libertarians like myself get ? A trip to the first Libertarian concentration camp
aptly named Camp Paternalistic Freedom ? Over the entrance “Investment shall Make You Free “.
Perhaps a camp commandant in a 3 piece suit saying in a funny accent, “ WE have methods to make you invest…“
Good explanation Shaun.
I favor common sense over abstract theory, dogma, or ideology, but that’s just me.
We already are in a sense in a “soft paternalism” form of government. We have elected non-representatives who dictate to us. If we don’t like what they dictate, we voice enough displeasure to get a new set of dictates that we like even less.
Just kidding. Some don’t like being forced to not have the abortion option while others don’t like being forced to allow viable fetuses to be aborted on whim.
So who is dictating to who ? You don’t get a dictionary definition of whether we should, to use another example, allow smoking in restaurants or not because the real answer for most of us is not in any dictionary or textbook or cerebral concept.
It depends on what you think is reasonable and makes the most sense.
I’ve seen this before:
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=6768159
...and commented on it thusly:
http://www.shaunkenney.com/2006/04/problems-of-avuncular-state_18.htm
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