Consequentialist arguments against paternalism object to unsuccessful paternalism — cases where restrictions on liberty fail to benefit the person restricted

These are reasonably strong consequentialist arguments against giving the state a broad discretionary power to engage in paternalistic legislation whenever it sees fit. However, they do not support a categorical ban on paternalism. In particular, these arguments provide no principled objection to paternalism—no objection to successful paternalistic restrictions on B’s liberty that do in fact benefit B. This weakness in Mill’s explicit argument against paternalism is like the weakness in his trut