Every day, we make decisions on topics ranging from personal investments to schools for our children to the meals we eat to the causes we champion.
Unfortunately, we often choose poorly.
Recently popularised by Sunstein and Thaler's Nudge, this political philosophy argues that totally free markets can lead to disaster because human individuals are not actually very good decision-makers, but also that rigidly controlled markets (with lots of rules, regulations, and state intervention) are similarly not the most effective. Their thesis is that a government should use its powers to 'nudge' people to make better decisions in their lives, without explicitly forcing them to. How the government decides what those 'better decisions' might be, is another question altogether...
If you search the web, you will find numerous articles about 'libertarian paternalism', most of which are fairly complementary. However, a moment's pause for thought should persuade you that the term is actually a contradiction in terms, and, for libertarians everywhere, a fresh threat to the true meaning of the word 'libertarian'.
You might also recall the phrase being used by Julian Le Grand, the chairman of Health England, when he proposed earlier this year that smokers should have to purchase a licence in order to be allowed to indulge their habit.
Hmmm, First they nudged the smokers...
A paper by Sunstein and Thaler titled Libertarian Paternalism Is Not An Oxymoron fleshes out some of their thinking, and further background on their thesis can be found by listening to these two interviews with Sunstein and Thaler.
Mises.org published a review of Nudge back in May, which deals with some of the issues raised in an eloquent manner, and I would urge you to read it, so that you might get a better feel for the onslaught against genuine libertarian values that is to come.
The publicity for this book tells us:
Thaler and Sunstein
invite us to enter an alternative world, one that takes our humanness
as a given. They show that by knowing how people think, we can design
choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is
best for themselves, their families, and their society. ThalerSunstein demonstrate how thoughtful choice architecture can be established to nudge us in beneficial directions without restricting freedom of choice.
So, first the State assumes the role of mind reader and knows how we think, then they choose your lifestyle, knowing what is best for you, and all you have to do is passively pretend that you did by choosing the least worst option. The same principle applies when you take your younger children to buy shoes. As their parents, you decide they can have this pair or that pair based upon cost or style, but let them make the final choice. The child then feels that they chose the shoes they are now wearing and is happy and you as their responsible parents know that they have got a pair of shoes that you approve of.
However, we are not children, but Nudge is advocating that we be treated as such 'because we make poor choices'., or 'vote the wrong way'. And that, if you have not yet worked it out, is putting a candy coated wrapping around the ultimate authoritarian Nanny State...Communitarianism, the new politics of the EU, so eagerly being pursued by the Tory Party.
Dont be fooled by them, because THAT is the kind of Liberty that David Davis was promoting with his sham election in Haltemprice & Howden, and never forget why all those draconian laws are already in place.
Put simply, we will try to nudge you into the corral so you don't realise until its too late, but if you wont go quietly, then we have the cattle prods ready.
Shall we say this again one more time on this blog:
There is no left or right in politics any more.
This battle is about one thing, Authority versus Liberty.
