H. Legitimate Governmental Activity and Interference (from On Liberty and Principles of Political Economy)
Based upon the principle of avoiding harm-to-others or the claim that individuals are not always the best judges of their own interests there are legitimate governmental interferences. These include the catalogue of limitations and exceptions with respect to individuals freedoms already stated previously and the additional examples of:
1. Governmental regulation of commerce and trade.
2. Requirements for waning labels on dangerous substances such as poisons.
3. Registration of the sale of articles well suited for criminal purposes, such as burglary tools and firearms perhaps.
4. Prohibitions against public indecency.
5. Prohibition or regulation of public houses for gambling, drinking, or prostitution.
6. Taxation to assure governmental revenues.
7. Heavier taxation on items such as alcohol to discourage its immoderate use.
8. Required education of children.
9. Prohibitions on marriage when a couple cannot show that they have the means of supporting a family and the nation suffers from overpopulation.
10. Laws regulating contracts and property.
11. Enforcement of laws through the judiciary and police.
12. Regulations regarding the use of natural resources and use of public lands and waters.
13. Restrictions regarding the numbers of hours in a workday.
14. Establishment of a stable system of public welfare for the needy.
15. Governmental performance of public services such as geographical or scientific exploration when individuals are unlikely to undertake such activities.
Regarding the general function of government he writes:
“It may be said generally, that anything which it is desirable should be done for the general interests of mankind of future generations, or for the present interests of those members o the community who require external aid, but which is not of a nature to remunerate individuals or associations for undertaking it, is in itself a suitable thing to be undertaken by government: though before making the work their own, governments ought always to consider if there be any rational probability of its being done on what is called the voluntary principle, and if so, whether it is likely to be done in a better of more effectual manner by government agency, than by the zeal and liberality of individuals. (PPE). Therefore while Mill supports individualism and individual freedoms, he recognizes numerous occasions where governmental or societal interference, punishment, regulation and assistance are justified.
When government assists individuals, for example, through public education, there must be clear evidence that the activities government supports are unlikely to be done by individuals themselves.
There are certain dangers related to governmental interference according to Mill, however:
1. Generally, individuals do a better job of accomplishing tasks than government.
2. Even when government can do a better job, there are advantages in the long run to granting individuals the practical experience of doing things for themselves.
3. There is the ever- present danger of accumulating government power, especially when government attracts to itself the most talented and ambitious persons as the primary means of their social advancement. In other words, governmental monopoly of talent and ambition, aside from dangers of despotism, establishes a bureaucracy not easily criticized by common citizens and not easily reformed even by the most innovative political leaders. Mill is not optimistic about the prospects of a free press and elected legislature maintaining adequate constraints on a giant bureaucracy.
