Here’s a great follow-up from David Henderson at EconLog to his previous post, my post on the government subsidy fallacy, and Bryan Caplan’s post on Kahneman’s new book.
In it, Henderson criticizes Justice John Roberts comment regarding government decency standards:
All we are asking for, what the government is asking for, is a few channels where … they are not going to hear the S-word, the F-word, they are not going to see nudity.
As Henderson correctly points out, the question isn’t whether “we” want cuss words and nudity on TV, but whether the government has the authority to tell us that we can’t.
Most people might think, but if most people agree, then I’m okay with the Federal government doing that. However, the government was not designed to acquire powers simply through what I think sounds good or a public opinion poll.
It was designed to have its power modified via Article V of the Constitution: Amendment.
