New Light on Paternalism

Yesterday Mario Rizzo pointed out a couple of new studies on the unexpected results of paternalist policies designed to "nudge" Americans into making what their betters consider smart decisions. In today's Wall Street Journal, Energy Secretary Steven Chu sums up the paternalist view very concisely. Opposing a House bill to repeal the 2007 federal law that effectively outlaws incandescent light bulbs, Chu says:

We are taking away a choice that continues to let people waste their own money.

Exactly. The government wants to take away our choice. It wants to take away our right to make our own decision. It doesn't trust us to make our own choices. And why should it? Secretary Chu won the Nobel prize in physics. He's obviously smarter than we are.

Sure, some people just don't like fluorescent light. Some people don't like the way the new bulbs come on slowly. Some people don't like the curlicue look. Some find that they don't in fact last longer than incandescent bulbs. Some are skeptical about promises of long-term savings, or simply prefer to spend less now.

But none of that matters to Secretary Chu and other paternalists. They know that these bulbs are best for us, and so they "are taking away a choice" that they don't think people should make. That's the difference between the libertarian and paternalist views in a nutshell.