Cass Sunstein: It’s For Your Own Good!

[krome2ez]

Cass Sunstein: It’s for your own good!  

Cass Sunstein has penned a brutally over worded article titled “It’s for your own good!”

that makes the case for paternalism and nanny state government. Some

people, even Jon Stewart, were outraged over Mayor Bloomberg’s banning

of sodas larger than 16oz. But should they be upset? Of course not!

Sunstein wrote:

 

In Mill’s view, the problem with outsiders, including government officials, is that they

lack the necessary information. Mill insists that the individual “is the

person most interested in his own well-being,” and the “ordinary man or

woman has means of knowledge immeasurably surpassing those that can be

possessed by any one else.”When society seeks to overrule the

individual’s judgment, Mill wrote, it does so on the basis of “general

presumptions,” and these “may be altogether wrong, and even if right,

are as likely as not to be misapplied to individual cases.” If the goal

is to ensure that people’s lives go well, Mill contends that the best

solution is for public officials to allow people to find their own path.

Here, then, is an enduring argument, instrumental in character, on

behalf of free markets and free choice in countless situations,

including those in which human beings choose to run risks that may not

turn out so well.

 

Mill’s claim has a great deal of intuitive appeal. But is it

right? That is largely an empirical question, and it cannot be

adequately answered by introspection and intuition. In recent decades,

some of the most important research in social science, coming from

psychologists and behavioral economists, has been trying to answer it.

That research is having a significant influence on public officials

throughout the world. Many believe that behavioral findings are cutting

away at some of the foundations of Mill’s harm principle, because they

show that people make a lot of mistakes, and that those mistakes can

prove extremely damaging

 

Glenn was not impressed.

“Let me tell you something. I made a lot of mistakes in my life and

this is where we’ve gone astray. We’ve made mistakes. That’s part of

life. No one is perfect. You’ll make mistakes, but because mistakes have

natural consequences, you either learn from those mistakes or you

perish. For instance, if I hadn’t learned from my alcoholism, I would

end up like ‑‑ who’s the woman that was the country star that just

passed away? Mindy McCready.  I would end up like that.  She couldn’t

learn from her mistakes.  I did.  And because of my mistakes and because

I learned from them, I’m better for them.  I’m better off for them

because I learned from them,” Glenn said.

“Now let’s take it out of the personal and let’s go to the business

world. Do you think anybody’s going to learn from their mistakes at the

banks? Do you think anybody who is being bailed out by the federal

government (has learned from their mistakes)?”

“Every single one of us can look at the federal government right now

and say they have present bias. They are only worrying about today and

they are not worrying about the consequences of tomorrow. But that’s

those of us who don’t really understand people like Cass Sunstein, that

don’t really understand.”

“They’re (progressives) encouraging you to live for today. Go out and

spend. Help the economy. Well, they don’t. They are laying their plans

against us, quite honestly, against man’s freedom. They are building and

currently justifying amongst the elites, justifying a world without

autonomy. They don’t have present bias. They know exactly what they’re

building. They’re building the world of tomorrow. And they are telling

you to live, drink and be merry today.”

“Let me tell you something: I stand by the fact that I said several

years ago Cass Sunstein is the most dangerous man in America because the

Republicans and the Democrats like him,” he said. “People, people in

the Republican Party like his choice structure because it gives them

more power. People, if you believe in people, you don’t do this. I

happen to believe in people, but people will get weaker the more you

expect them to be weak. The more ‑‑ the less you expect them to do, the

more dumb you expect them to be, the easier you make their life, the

more you take away any consequences from any of their actions, they will

become everything that you say they are: Dumb, weak, pathetic, and

unable to make a choice.”

 

“The problem with our country is that the people with power believe

that’s exactly who you are, and you are allowing them to do it by taking

the easy way. By taking and believing in choice structure. By not

demanding that choice structure stops. They’re not demanding that we

have a right. Instead we demand that somebody takes care of us. Somebody

gives us healthcare. Well, if you’re going to pay ‑‑ if you’re going to

make somebody else pay for your bad choices and your bad living, well,

then there’s only one ‑‑ there’s only one way to do it. We have to stop

you from making bad choices because I have to pay for your heart attack.

You want to pay for your heart attack? Great. But why should I have to

pay for your heart attack? Everybody will say when California slides off

the cliff, the financial cliff, ‘Why should I have to pay for

Californians? That was their choice.’ And if we all have to pay for

California, then I guess we all have to ‑‑ we all have to be involved in

California’s decisions. No, let California make their own decisions.

They’re different people; they want to live a different way. Let them.

If they fail, they fail. They’ll learn… unless we all gather together

and bail them out. Then they won’t learn and eventually we’ll all burn

down… together.”

 

http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/02/20/cass-sunstein-it%E2%80%99s-for-your-own-good/

[SgtFuryUSCZ]

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We heard this broadcast today whilst waxing 'OlSarges MB Sprinter RV....and must say,

Glenn had some excellent points!

 

We believe not learning from your mistakes is just natural selection...

 

If the nanny state bails your pitiful arse out every time you trip over your d**k,  then in no time flat

we are inundated with idiots and the ignorant.

 

If you're too stupid to live, then "bye".... see ya!