Does a Free Society Have to Allow Bad Choices?
Today the FDA was holding hearings on the safety of Lasik surgery spurred on by only 140 complaints from the estimated 10 million people who have undergone the operation to date. By most accounts, this surgery is successful in improving vision without complication in at least 95% of the time. No doubt there are going to be some people who have a bad result even if its just a very small number. Thinking about this issue as well as the ongoing mortgage crisis made me wonder about the changing role we as individuals have in making decisions for our lives.
A decision by definition is a choice between potential courses of action. Freedom by definition has always been the ability of that choice to be made solely by the individual. Inherent to this principle was the concept that the individual knew best what choices were best for him rather than any government entity. At the same time, most contemporary views of a capitalistic economy have recognized that this freedom of choice will allow experimentation and innovation for some to the benefit of the whole whilst some will make decisions which result in worse personal circumstance.
Our value of the individual concurrently has caused society to develop safety nets for those that do make bad choices. Bankruptcy court, probation, divorce court, credit counseling, adult education, substance abuse rehabilitation, and welfare exist because we recognize the process is not foolproof.
It seems we are always trying to balance our freedom of choice with our chance to fail. Many of the issues we face today deal directly with this conflict. Should the government tell us exactly what medical procedures we can have and under what circumstances or should we only be allowed to borrow money if some government official approves it?
It is obvious that one role of government should be to remove the possibility of intentional deception by those who would take advantage of individuals. However, the more we rely on government to be our filter of information and less on our own life experience and education the more we will be relinquishing our freedom.
Perhaps even more important is that we have to learn to accept the concept of uncertainty and probability. Our society wastes millions of dollars on evaluating low probability risks that are politically popular while ignoring common sense concerns. Research in diseases and illness of children ,for example, has been side tracked by news media hype about things like power lines and immunizations. Instead of focusing on losing weight and exercising, people become obsessed with the latest trace pollutant reported on the evening news. We must learn that collecting information is not the same as coming to conclusions.
A part of the education process of our young people has to include how to make decisions in life. To understand there will be mistakes made and to accept uncertainty. They should not grow up in a world where the government assumes the whole burden of decision making in their everyday life.
Congressman Hinojosa of the 15th Congressional District has proposed adding financial literacy to the education process. This is a good start. A local clothing merchant used to say in their commercial “An educated consumer is our best customer.”