I'm really enjoying this book, "On Liberty". Usually I wait to post about the whole book at once when I finish it, but these little gems keep coming up and I think it would take too long to write one big post, so I'm posting as they come up.
Here's one from today.
"But independence of action, and disregard of custom, are not solely deserving of encouragement for the chance they afford that better modes action, and customs more worthy of general adoption, may be struck out; nor is it only persons of decided mental superiority who have a just claim to carry on their lives in their own way. "
Everyone deserves to live and make choices as they see fit, regardless of their position in society. I'm not sure Mill really believed that though, but maybe he did when he wrote this and changed his mind later in life. I'm going to take it as it is here though.
I grow weary sometimes of people who believe some people can home school but some should not. I'd rather encourage everyone to educate themselves and their own children, regardless of where they stand right now. Some people should be able to choose where they live and what to eat, but some just don't have the capacity to make the "right" choices. There are no right choices.
"The spirit of improvement is not always a spirit of liberty, for it may aim at forcing improvements on an unwilling people; and the spirit of liberty, in so far as it resists such attempts, may ally itself locally and temporarily with the opponents of improvement; but the only unfailing and permanent source of improvement is liberty, since by it there are as many possible independent centers of improvement as there are individuals."
Some believe that if we only had this style of government or another, then everything would be good, everyone would have what they need. That just isn't true. People who believe that the most liberty is best, don't believe that if we each had maximum liberty then we would be living Nirvana. We believe that if we have the highest individual liberty possible, then we each have a higher chance of making the right choices for our own person at the right time for us. No one knows me and my needs better than I do. And no one is more responsible for my decisions than I am.
Here's one from today.
"But independence of action, and disregard of custom, are not solely deserving of encouragement for the chance they afford that better modes action, and customs more worthy of general adoption, may be struck out; nor is it only persons of decided mental superiority who have a just claim to carry on their lives in their own way. "
Everyone deserves to live and make choices as they see fit, regardless of their position in society. I'm not sure Mill really believed that though, but maybe he did when he wrote this and changed his mind later in life. I'm going to take it as it is here though.
I grow weary sometimes of people who believe some people can home school but some should not. I'd rather encourage everyone to educate themselves and their own children, regardless of where they stand right now. Some people should be able to choose where they live and what to eat, but some just don't have the capacity to make the "right" choices. There are no right choices.
"The spirit of improvement is not always a spirit of liberty, for it may aim at forcing improvements on an unwilling people; and the spirit of liberty, in so far as it resists such attempts, may ally itself locally and temporarily with the opponents of improvement; but the only unfailing and permanent source of improvement is liberty, since by it there are as many possible independent centers of improvement as there are individuals."
Some believe that if we only had this style of government or another, then everything would be good, everyone would have what they need. That just isn't true. People who believe that the most liberty is best, don't believe that if we each had maximum liberty then we would be living Nirvana. We believe that if we have the highest individual liberty possible, then we each have a higher chance of making the right choices for our own person at the right time for us. No one knows me and my needs better than I do. And no one is more responsible for my decisions than I am.
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