George McGovern said what??

I had to check the author again of this Wall Street Journal article by George McGovern titled, "Freedom Means Responsibility". These nuggets of wisdom actually came from the man often labeled as the most left wing president candidate in modern time. His insight was that,

Why do we think we are helping adult consumers by taking away their options? We don't take away cars because we don't like some people speeding. We allow state lotteries despite knowing some people are betting their grocery money. Everyone is exposed to economic risks of some kind. But we don't operate mindlessly in trying to smooth out every theoretical wrinkle in life.

The nature of freedom of choice is that some people will misuse their responsibility and hurt themselves in the process. We should do our best to educate them, but without diminishing choice for everyone else.

Seems that being out of government is the best way for politicians to realize the unintended consequences of government action, as so eloquently written by Frederic Bastiat in The Law.