With decent well functioning kids parents don’t need paternalism. With decent well functioning citizens governments don’t need paternalism. So how do we know when the parents and governments are more well functioning than kids and citizens?
It’s not that in well-functioning societies there’s no need for paternalism. It’s that in well-functioning societies the government can be trusted with enough power that they can carry out the kind of modestly paternalistic agenda that people like me favor. Similarly, in well-functioning families parents can be trusted with enough power to do modest, reasonable parental paternalism. Naturally, in poorly-functioning societies/families the government/parents seize power anyway, but we’re talking abut what’s legitimate, not about what actually happens.
With decent well functioning kids parents don’t need paternalism. With decent well functioning citizens governments don’t need paternalism. So how do we know when the parents and governments are more well functioning than kids and citizens?
It’s not that in well-functioning societies there’s no need for paternalism. It’s that in well-functioning societies the government can be trusted with enough power that they can carry out the kind of modestly paternalistic agenda that people like me favor. Similarly, in well-functioning families parents can be trusted with enough power to do modest, reasonable parental paternalism. Naturally, in poorly-functioning societies/families the government/parents seize power anyway, but we’re talking abut what’s legitimate, not about what actually happens.