A paradox of liberalism:
Part of the problem is in the limitations of the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That is all well and good if they have the same preferences, but not if they want something different from what you would want in the same circumstances. Until further advances in technology, we are shut out of knowing directly what the world looks like from inside someone else’s mind, and have to guess based on how we would feel. But that sometimes steers us badly off target. Giving everyone personal liberty is a safeguard against our blind meddling.Confessions of a Supply-Side Liberal
Of course, applying the golden rule at a meta-level would say “I want liberty, so I should give others liberty as well.” But there are many times when liberty is a higher law than the applying the golden rule at the detailed level.
Liberty and the Golden Rule
Miles Kimball | Professor of Economics and Survey Research at the University of Michigan
