Re:Eighth Circuit: Citizens do not have a right to film publ...
by vidarh on Thursday August 10, 2017 @07:48AM
(#14978712)
Maximisation of individual liberty can be similar to taking account of the common good.
This is a traditional left libertarian vs. right libertarian conflict:
The left libertarian view tends to be more favourable to assigning relative weight to rights and favour restrictions on one right to safeguard another.
To take your example, speed limits are small, relatively inconsequential restrictions on the individual liberty of many in favour of reducing a number of infringements of rights on wider society, the most important of which is safeguarding wider society's right to life.
That, to me, makes judicious evidence based use of speed limits a justified restriction on individual liberty.
I think that is key, though: However you word it - be it "common good" or "individual liberty" - what makes the bigger difference is that there are clear criteria (e.g. a hierarchy of importance of liberties) and an expectation of evidence based policy.
Getting politicians to accept evidence-based policy-making seems to be the biggest hurdle at present, as evidence-based policies would overturn a whole lot of legal restrictions that they believe wholly in the importance of no matter what the evidence says.
This is a traditional left libertarian vs. right libertarian conflict:
The left libertarian view tends to be more favourable to assigning relative weight to rights and favour restrictions on one right to safeguard another.
To take your example, speed limits are small, relatively inconsequential restrictions on the individual liberty of many in favour of reducing a number of infringements of rights on wider society, the most important of which is safeguarding wider society's right to life.
That, to me, makes judicious evidence based use of speed limits a justified restriction on individual liberty.
I think that is key, though: However you word it - be it "common good" or "individual liberty" - what makes the bigger difference is that there are clear criteria (e.g. a hierarchy of importance of liberties) and an expectation of evidence based policy.
Getting politicians to accept evidence-based policy-making seems to be the biggest hurdle at present, as evidence-based policies would overturn a whole lot of legal restrictions that they believe wholly in the importance of no matter what the evidence says.