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… is from page 243 of Michael Huemer’s great 2013 book, The Problem of Political Authority [2] (original emphasis):
Granted, the ideal system is one in which people serve justice for the right reasons. But … government is unlikely be that system. If one must choose between a system in which people serve self-interest in the name of justice and one in which people serve justice in the name of self-interest, surely we must prefer the latter. To prefer a system that hands people the tools to exploit others for selfish ends while assuring them that they are supposed to serve justice, over a system that makes justice profitable and allows people to choose their own course, would be to repose a utopian faith in the power of supposition.
DBx: Indeed so. And yet overwhelmingly large remains the number of people who, while fancying themselves rational, scientific, clear-headed, and “reality-based,” cling fervently and unquestioningly to this utopian faith.