NEVER SACRIFICE? I don't really want to spend all day on this, but Jonah Goldberg's posted and endorsed an email on Linda Hirshman that makes the bizarre claims that her arguments are "fantastically illiberal" because "Hardly anyone in our deeply liberal society argues that we should sacrifice our desires to a greater good � the churches do, ever so timidly, but that's about it."
Come on, now. For one thing, we're not living in a libertarian utopia. We're all subject to any number of legal regulations on the pursuit of our desires enacted in the name of some greater good. So many that I don't think I should need to enumerate them. Besides regulatory efforts, we're all beset by any number of efforts to use moral suasion to get people to check their desires in pursuit of larger social goals. I cursed at a Wizards playoff game and earned a dirty look from a father sitting in front of me with his young daughter. People ask me to contribute to charity. Religious groups tell teenagers not to have sex. People try to shame other people out of wearing fur. Cheating on your spouse is generally held in low regard. I don't think anyone -- even at Hit and Run -- thinks "it's what I wanted to do" constitutes an absolute defense against moral criticism.
--Matthew Yglesias
