Katherine Mangu-Ward

Is government regulation something that benefits us, or something that deprives us of our freedom? Katherine Mangu-Ward, a Libertarian Journalist who has written for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, and the Weekly Standard, would introduce government regulations as an endangerment to our constitutional freedom. Mangu-Ward is a Yale Graduate that has a concept that negative liberty is at war with the people. She believes that there should be minimal interference from the government or anyone else, and that people have become complacent with government interference. I disagree with Mangu-Ward’s theory, and believe that people aren’t fighting against negative liberty, its concept is just dying out while people are embracing positive liberty because it’s the better concept. I also disagree with her belief that the government shouldn’t regulate our lives, government regulation is something that keeps us and the world healthy.

She then makes a comparison between the Taliban’s ban on ice cream to women, and Brooklyn Mom’s desire for ice cream trucks to be banned in parks. Mothers argue that the ice cream truck jingle “turns children into whining beggars.” (Mangu-Ward 660) And, they are forced to say no because “The sugar and additives in the ice cream make them hyperactive monsters.” (Mangu-Ward 660) Brooklyn Moms dial 311, the city’s complaint line, and the Taliban flogs and executes women who dare to eat ice cream. However, in the eyes of Mangu- Ward they want the same thing, a ban on ice