Rawls calls this the "principle of restricted utility," (JF 120, 126) since the pursuit of social utility is restricted by the basic liberties, fair opportunities, and a fixed social minimum.
however, that doesn't mean that we should protect these people from the hypnotic/evil/whatever influences of "monied interests" by trampling on the basic liberty of free speech..
He proposes equal basic liberties for all, but allows that some restrictions of basic liberties might be needed to strengthen the system of basic liberties over time, and such restriction, even unequal restriction, is acceptable provided the lesser liberty is acceptable from the standpoint of those who suffer the basic liberty deficit.
Rawls has suggested that the scope of this problem of devising an index of primary goods is lessened by giving some primary goods, the basic liberties, priority over the rest.
It was the fact that it was a police state where people were denied the basic liberties.
We might call this the basic liberties harm prevention principle.
This is because some ways of protecting minority groups from oppression by the majority may make it more likely that more powerful members of those groups are able to undermine the basic liberties and opportunities of vulnerable members.
Citizens will see that the basic liberties allow sufficient social space to pursue their reasonable conceptions of the good.
In other words, certain basic goods need to be furnished to assure the equitable or 'fair value of the basic liberties' (Rawls 1993, pp. 356-63).
Political participation, which Daniels (2008, 95 6) regards as a social determinant of health, is regulated by the principle of equal basic liberty: among other things, this principle safeguards the fair value of the right to participate politically.
