An excellent essay by John Stuart Mill that addresses the age-old
question about the authority of government--namely, when can a society
legitimately force one of its members to do something against his or
her will?
Mill takes the classic libertarian point of view: society can only
intervene to stop one individual from infringing upon the
liberties of another. Say what you want,
write what you want, do what you want--even if you're harming
yourself--and society has no right to intervene. Infringe upon the liberties of another, however, and government is obligated to step in.
Mill's argument differs in some ways from boilerplate libertarianism.
In an unusual twist that presages Asimov's First Law of Robotics, Mill also asserts that society can
intervene when an individual harms another through inaction;
thus, a member of a society can be conscripted into the army or compelled
to testify in court. Ayn Rand and Robert Heinlein, two of the more outspoken libertarian thinkers in history, did not agree.
That aside, they likely would agree with Mill's overall claim that
maximal liberty is essential to humanity's development (and that
government meddling usually causes more harm than good). As Mill
himself notes, his arguments are not entirely original--a similar
philosophy motivated the Founding Fathers almost a century before
Mill--but in the era of the CDA, it's probably worthwhile to give
his thoughts one more airing.
Besides, if you don't feel like reading the whole essay, you can
stop after the beautiful and painfully loving dedication:
To the beloved and deplored memory of her who was the inspirer, and in part the author, of all that is best
in my writings--the friend and wife whose exalted sense of truth and right was my strongest incitement, and
whose approbation was my chief reward--I dedicate this volume. Like all that I have written for many years,
it belongs as much to her as to me; but the work as it stands has had, in a very insufficient degree, the
inestimable advantage of her revision; some of the most important portions having been reserved for a more
careful re-examination, which they are now never destined to receive. Were I but capable of interpreting to
the world one half the great thoughts and noble feelings which are buried in her grave, I should be the medium of a greater benefit to it, than is ever likely to arise from anything that I can write, unprompted and
unassisted by her all but unrivalled wisdom.