Sunday, April 18, 2004

Kling has a good article at TechCentralStation

What's Wrong With Paternalism? By Arnold Kling Published 04/16/2004, in which he argues that there are three good arguments against increasing taxes and the size of government. He calls them the pure libertarian position, the utilitarian position and the Public Choice position.

I would say that all three are libertarian points and I'd call them the moral, the practical and the who-died-and-made-you-God positions. The three... Well, let's quote Kling:

Individually, none of these arguments is decisive. However, together, they undermine the left's presumption that those of us with a moral outlook should be rooting for more taxes and bigger government. Under close examination, the case for more paternalism is not nearly as strong as it might first appear.

That's my only quibble with the article.

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