DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Do we need "the plebeians are idiots" laws?

**Thomas12400** · 01-02-2009, 08:15 PM

Do people need laws protecting them from their own stupidity?

No, they don't need such laws. The better question is whether society benefits from such laws. The answer to that is yes.

Given that people live in groups, one's actions almost always have some effect on others. One person's stupid action could lead to some amount to harm to come to several other people. Some of the people harmed could react negatively or harmfuly to the event, creating a chain of negative consequences that in the end has no positive upside, and does nothing but increase the cost to everyone. To use that example you gave, the farmer taken loans with usurious rates not only threatens his own personal finances, but those of his family members, and if he were to renage on his obligations, that would start a possible chain of conflict between borrower and creditor, their families and friends, and so forth.

Another example are laws mandating that car owners have insurance. A true free marketer should be oposed to such a law, as it might very well inflate the price of car insurance for all, since car insurance companies know that as long as people buy cars, they will be mandated by law to buy this service. But by creating such a law you help mitigate the general harm caused by the rather common event of car accidents. Same with laws that penalize people for not wearing seatbelts.

At the end of the day, what any law does is create an incentive for individuals toward some action. It does so by threatening some negative consequence for the action, but as we all know, for some people, the threatened negative consequence is secondary to the possible gain from an action, and hence crime. But I think society as a whole benefits if it creates situations that steer people towards less risky or possibly harmful interactions, or sets up methods to mitigate possible harm, as to limit the effect.

01-02-2009, 08:15 PM	#2
Thomas12400 Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 409 Senior Member	Do people need laws protecting them from their own stupidity? No, they don't need such laws. The better question is whether society benefits from such laws. The answer to that is yes. Given that people live in groups, one's actions almost always have some effect on others. One person's stupid action could lead to some amount to harm to come to several other people. Some of the people harmed could react negatively or harmfuly to the event, creating a chain of negative consequences that in the end has no positive upside, and does nothing but increase the cost to everyone. To use that example you gave, the farmer taken loans with usurious rates not only threatens his own personal finances, but those of his family members, and if he were to renage on his obligations, that would start a possible chain of conflict between borrower and creditor, their families and friends, and so forth. Another example are laws mandating that car owners have insurance. A true free marketer should be oposed to such a law, as it might very well inflate the price of car insurance for all, since car insurance companies know that as long as people buy cars, they will be mandated by law to buy this service. But by creating such a law you help mitigate the general harm caused by the rather common event of car accidents. Same with laws that penalize people for not wearing seatbelts. At the end of the day, what any law does is create an incentive for individuals toward some action. It does so by threatening some negative consequence for the action, but as we all know, for some people, the threatened negative consequence is secondary to the possible gain from an action, and hence crime. But I think society as a whole benefits if it creates situations that steer people towards less risky or possibly harmful interactions, or sets up methods to mitigate possible harm, as to limit the effect.
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