Self Control - Isn't That My Responsibility?

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Many of us wish we used, i quote, a little bit less, or wish we ate a little bit more. And isn't that the way we want our culture to evolve, to allow those kind of natural impulses? Isn't that my responsibility, that self control? Why would i want that coming from outside me in any dimension? Wellt it seems to me thats a core assumption of liberalism, is the idea of the self making self. I think this is fundamentally a false understanding of the human person.

Political Scientist and author Patrick Deneen of the University of Notre Dame talks about his book Why Liberalism Failed with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. By liberalism, Deneen means the modern enterprise--the push for self-actualization free of the constraints of tradition, family, and religion that typifies modern culture. He argues that both the left and the right have empowered the state and reduced liberty. He argues for a smaller, more local, more artisanal economy and a return to the virtues of self-control and self-mastery.