Paternalism

Paternalists Plan a New International Political Consensus

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 2022

The political paternalists and the social engineers are giddy with hope and anticipation. They are confident that their day has, once again, arrived. The era of even bigger government has returned, and any remaining free-market system is simply out of date. They are full of promises and plans to set the world right, as long as they and the ...

The Paternalist Instincts of a Central Planner

by Richard M. Ebeling May 26, 2021

Both supporters and critics of President Joe Biden have been surprised and amazed by the immensity of his political agenda and his recent actions for a far more expansive role for the federal government than many had been expecting from his time in office. He is clearly on a “mission” and is pursuing it with seeming urgency. So, what ...

Biden’s Agenda of “Democratic” Paternalism and Planning

by Richard M. Ebeling May 4, 2021

President Joe Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress on April 28, 2021 marked the first 100 days of his administration, and enabled him to lay out his vision and vistas for government policy. Besides promising even more trillions of dollars in federal spending, it showed what guides his thinking: Nothing is possible without government, and liberty does ...

Freedom versus Paternalism in the Coming Decade

by Richard M. Ebeling January 4, 2021

We are not only standing at the beginning of a new year in 2021, but at the entrance of the third decade of the 21st century. With a fifth of this latest century now behind us, what have we learned so far? I, personally, fear that the answer to that is little that is right and true, as I ...

The Perils and Pitfalls of Political Paternalism

by Richard M. Ebeling December 23, 2019

Across the spectrum of differing political views, whether “progressive,” “nationalist,” “populist,” or “conservative,” there is a common presumption in all of their policy positions and programs. That common dominator is the premise that government is to be the guiding hand in directing and remaking society in some chosen form, to which and within which all in that society are ...

Should People Be Paid for Not Working?

by Laurence M. Vance June 7, 2019

Donald Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2020 budget (Oct. 1, 2019–Sept. 30, 2020), “A Budget for a Better America: Promises Kept. Taxpayers First,” largely mirrors his two previous budgets for fiscal years 2018 and 2019. In spite of Democratic criticism of Trump’s “cruel,” “shortsighted,” “toxic,” “destructive” budget, it is just like the budgets of his ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Fear of Freedom

by Future of Freedom Foundation August 2, 2017

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss paternalism and how it fosters a fear of individual liberty. Go to the podcast.

Obamacare Reform and Paternalism’s Pratfalls

by James Bovard April 1, 2017

One of Donald Trump’s first actions as president was to issue an executive order to reduce the regulatory burden of the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare has been intensely controversial since it was enacted in 2010. The battle over its reform or replacement will very likely continue for most of this year, if not most of Trump’s term in office. ...

Real Americanism Means Liberty, Not Government Paternalism

by Richard M. Ebeling June 9, 2016

America! For more than 250 years the word has represented hope, opportunity, a second chance, and freedom. In America the accident of a man’s birth did not have to serve as an inescapable weight that dictated a person’s fate or that of his family. Once a newcomer – the immigrant – stepped on American soil he left the political tyrannies ...

The Food-Security Charade

by James Bovard December 1, 2014

Federal spending on food aid has skyrocketed in recent decades, and the feds are now feeding more than 100 million Americans. Yet, according to the Agriculture Department (USDA), far more Americans are “food insecure” now than before the mushrooming of subsidized feeding programs. But rather than seeing this as evidence of a government failure, a chorus of activists and ...

For Your Own Good

by John Ahrens April 1, 2014

Against Autonomy: Justifying Coercive Paternalism by Sarah Conly (Cambridge University Press, 2013), 256 pages (ebook edition reviewed). Bowdoin philosophy professor Sarah Conly has given us a remarkably timely book. Against Autonomy makes an important contribution to the trending discussion of what some call the “nanny state” and others might call simply “petty fascism” (or maybe just “fascism”). It is ...

The Nuclear Nudging of Your Food Choices

by Wendy McElroy December 3, 2013

In the book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness, the “choice architect” Cass R. Sunstein describes his idea of “libertarian paternalism.” The paternalism aspect refers to “nudging” people in a desired direction, for example by putting photos of rotted lungs on cigarette packages. The libertarian aspect refers to not actually stripping people of the freedom to choose. ...