… is from pages 202-203 of Matthew Hennessey’s superb 2022 book, Visible Hand:
For the concept of individual rights to mean anything, the government’s power over people’s decisions about who to be, how to be, and what to do with their lives must be limited. Yes, it will produce outcomes you don’t like. Sorry, that’s the price of freedom.
DBx: Indeed so.
I’m certain that almost everyone who reads the above quotation would nod his or her head in agreement. “Of course,” would be the response. “Hennessey’s point is trivially true.”
Yes, in a way this point is trivially true. But pay attention: Very many (most?) calls for government to restrict people’s freedoms are rooted in someone’s personal unhappiness that reality isn’t exactly to his or her liking.
Adrian is displeased that what he judges to be too few people are Christian. Oren is dismayed that the number of Americans working in manufacturing jobs isn’t as high as he fancies it should be. Thomas is bothered by the current ‘distribution’ of monetary incomes. Elizabeth is convinced that individuals don’t spend their money as prudently as she supposes they should. Bernie is discomfited by the fact that some workers earn hourly wages that Bernie deems are too low. Charles disapproves of the intoxicants that some persons prefer. Robert grieves that many of his fellow citizens dine on foods that Robert has concluded people ought not dine on. Donald is angry at fellow citizens for purchasing more imports than Donald wishes they would purchase. Jerry doesn’t like some people’s peaceful sexual practices. Randi is convinced that her fellow citizens, when left alone, choose to educate their children in ways that Randi thinks is less than optimal.
There is, alas, a superabundance of individuals who are each so arrogant as to believe that a society that doesn’t fit their desires and preferences perfectly is so dysfunctional that it must be coercively rearranged.
The hubris is appalling.
