Buckley’s Mix

Fair Governance III

Posted February 19, 2009, 09:02 ET Comments Off

Let me now strengthen the argument for perfectionism, where the government restricts individual choices to promote a moral vision, with an example that nearly everyone would find compelling from the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

One of the Act’s then-controversial sections prohibited discrimination on the basis of race when people rented out rooms in their homes. Critics noted that this would prevent the hypothetical Mrs. Murphy from renting only to fellow Hibernians, and that seemed excessive.

We’ve now lived with the legislation for nearly 50 years, and few people today would want to tinker with it. It constrained choices, to be sure. But it also plausibly changed racial attitudes for the better, and most peole would think that this more than justifies the perfectionism.

Against this, what argument might the anti-perfectionist raise?

More later.

Category: Paternalism
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