What kind of society do we want to be? - The Economist
Is an individual entitled to make a choice that harms himself? Should a state be restrained from intervening? Why?
It is not clear what privileges individual choices over collective ones. The state has no doubt made bad collective choices in the past, yet individuals do as well. If not quality, what character do individual choices possess that collective ones do not? All that remains is a subjective sense that these choices I make are distinctly “mine,” and thus I defend the sphere in which they are made. Yet the choices we make together are distinctly “ours” and we might together defend society’s right to make them, even at the expense of certain individual liberties.
If there is nothing objectively ‘better’ about individual choices, we ought to apportion to each mode those choices best resolved by it. Which is the best laptop? Let individual consumers decide. What should be in school vending machines? Maybe we should together decide that bottled sugar isn’t doing anyone any favors. When individuals have a track record of poor choices, they might be nudged toward better ones by collective action. This interplay strengthens individuals and society.
Your desire for 32 oz of soda is not a divine commandment, and requiring you to carry two 16 oz cups is just society’s gentle reminder that you might be, in fact, an idiot.