"The right to be left alone," said Justice William O. Douglas, "is indeed the beginning of all freedom." And regarding the authority of society over the freedom of the individual, where should the line be drawn? What's the right balance between individual independence and collective social control? John Stuart Mill, arguably the most influential 19th-century British political writer, asked those questions in his most popular essay, On Liberty, published in 1859. Mill's position is that "the individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far as these concern the interests of no person but himself." Singer Billy...
