Confessions of a bad libertarian

I just read Julian Sanchez's new essay on parentalism. It's good. But it brought out major feelings of guilt, because in some senses I am a secret parentalist.

I wish HLS had never made in-class wireless available, for example. My ability to concentrate in class plummeted after it was extended to all the classrooms and my transcript reflects my lack of focus during those last three semesters. My laptop has an internal wireless card, so I couldn't just take the easy way out and leave it at home, and my self control never lasted very long when the only thing between me and a seemingly vital email check (email was always the nose of the camel in the tent) was a "disabled" connection. Everyone else apparently had more self control, and that's fine; maybe I deserved to be punished for my weak-willed ways. But if there had been some referendum on wireless, I would have voted against it in an instant.

I always hated mandatory P.E. in school, and was delighted to be able to get my college requirement over with by taking the farcical "advanced weights" course, which required going to the gym, signing in, making some token effort at physical activity, and then departing. But I wish I'd had to take aerobics all through college. Now I am a lazy piece of pudding, and even the presence of exercise equipment staring at me accusingly from the living room floor for months was not sufficient to overcome my habit of sloth.

(And don't get me started on Diet Coke. I should really be committed for my own good to some kind of caffeine rehab facility. )