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… is from page 290 of the late Anthony de Jasay [2]’s 1995 paper “The Bitter Medicine of Freedom” as this paper is reprinted in Justice and Its Surroundings [3], a 2002 collection of some of de Jasay’s writings:
The rough underside of freedom is responsibility for oneself. The fewer the institutional obstacles an individual faces in choosing acts to fit his preferences, the more his life is what he makes it, and the less excuse he has for what he has made of it.
DBx: Yes. This fact should be obvious to everyone older than eight. But it’s not. Many individuals demand, understandably, the freedom to express themselves as they wish, to live as they wish, to do this, that, and the other as they wish. But far too many of these same individuals also demand that the collective be coerced into protecting individuals from the downsides of their choices. Applauding themselves for being ‘progressive’ – even cutting-edge – and ‘caring,’ these individuals in fact reveal themselves to be infantile.