Liberty Alone

I’ve just heard Matthew Taylor (Blair’s ex-advisor not the LibDem MP) on the radio talking about trying to include people in local government and politics.

He misses the point entirely, he keeps on talking about ‘persuading people to act wisely’. Why should government persuade people to act wisely? How on earth can government decide what that is?
This is the same old paternalistic authoritarianism hiding behind a mask of participation and localism.

Perhaps we can welcome the fact that they realise that there’s a disconnect between government and people and that government cannot do everything, but to assume that government knows what is best, it just needs to persuade people to ‘do the right thing’ is wholly wrong.
People must be left to make their own choices and to take responsibility for them. Government should protect that right, not seek to manipulate it.

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