Americans now seem to view social deviance of nearly every stripe—from criminality and drug use, to Attention Deficit Disorder and everyday schoolboy mischief—as a mental illness rooted in poor self-esteem and requiring government-sponsored therapy to fix. Ominously, the embrace of this therapeutic ethos has become a source of legitimation of expanded state power that otherwise would face stiff opposition, argues James L. Nolan, Jr., in his well-researched book, The Theraputic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End.

Robert Higgs is Retired Senior Fellow in Political Economy, Founding Editor and former Editor at Large of The Independent Review.
Government and PoliticsGovernment PowerHealth and Healthcare
Other Independent Review articles by Robert Higgs
Fall 2019 Pressure-Release Valves in Participatory Fascism
Winter 2018/19 Two Worlds: Politics and Everything Else
Fall 2018 Against the Whole Concept and Construction of the Balance of International Payments
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