Obama’s former regulation czar, Professor Cass Sunstein, has a new book out which continues his quest for a more paternalistic government that “nudges” us to make what he thinks are better decisions. Don Boudreaux reviews the book here.
In my view, there are two gigantic problems with Sunstein’s idea. First, it is no business of politicians to try to “nudge” (or worse, dictate) personal behavior. Individuals are (or at least should be) free to encourage or discourage others from certain behaviors, but politicians and bureaucrats have no warrant to try to remake society through their “nudging.”
Second, once we open this Pandora’s Box, there will be no end to the stuff that comes out. The power to “help people make better decisions” cannot be kept pure, untainted by authoritarians who will want to use that power to change society in ways they desire. Such power will inevitably be subject to all kinds of Baptists and bootlegger coalitions intent on changing people’s behavior for what they claim is “their own good” but is actually for the good of the interest groups.
