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Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller
Kerri Miller and Kelly Gordon

‘Fewer Rules, Better People: The Case for Discretion’

An author photo and a book cover.
Philosophy professor Barry Lam says restoring discretion to public life would make us a better society in his new book, "Fewer Rules, Better People."
Photo by Melissa Surprise | Book cover courtesy of WW Norton

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Rules are good. Discretion is better.

So argues philosophy professor Barry Lam in his new book, “Fewer Rules, Better People.” While Lam acknowledges law as the backbone of society, he says America has forgotten the good of discretion. Be it a sports referee, a parent, a police officer or a prosecutor, decision makers need the freedom to exercise discernment about how the rules get applied.

Lam joins Kerri Miller on this week’s Big Books and Bold Ideas for a philosophical and practical discussion about how discretion greases the wheels of our culture and why removing it creates a lumbering bureaucracy.

Guest:

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