Tyranny Of The "Good"

I have never been a huge fan of C.S. Lewis, but I think he is absolutely right about this. Good people, who claim to believe in democracy and freedom, are many times too willing to try and force their fellow Americans to do something "for their own good". This is not an issue of either the left or the right, because both political extremes are guilty of this -- with the right wanting to force religion on their fellow citizens "for their own good", and the left wanting to force different lifestyle choices like dictating what can and cannot be bought or eaten "for their own good".

Many times this is called the "nanny state", but it really is just another form of tyranny. If you want to believe in a certain religion, live your life in a certain way, or consume only certain things, then do that. That is your right as a free person living in a free country. But when you try to force your own choices on other people "for their own good", then you have stepped over the line and are destroying freedom instead of furthering it.

Maybe the choices you have made would be "better for me" (and maybe they wouldn't). But in a free country, it is my choice to make -- not your's.

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