On Liberty Lesson Plan

Why does Mill say that the government doesn’t have the right to control or coerce dissenting opinions, even when it seems to have the full support of the people? Do you agree with this?

For some students, this opinion may strike them as unintuitive and anti-democratic, since the government is supposed to serve the people, especially a majority of the people. Others, however, may raise as a counterpoint the notion that populism is not always the best practice, since it can result in the erosion of a democratic political system and the rights and liberties which it guarantees. Still, other students may point out that in many authoritarian countries that claim to be “...