Modern society has abolished almost all forms of discrimination. One major form remains though, namely that of minor versus adult. Our justification for this is that minors must be protected because they have undeveloped minds and can't be held accountable for their own actions. I personally think this is a good justification. But are there only two levels of maturity? Do you mentally become an adult on your 18th birthday?
Given some time to reflect, a reasonable individual might say that no, such a proposition is absurd—there are of course multiple levels of maturity.
The law reflects this to some degree. In some countries, 16 year-olds are permitted to have sexual intercourse. In others, adults aren't permitted to drink until they're 21 years old. The fact that no consensus has been reached on these age limits suggests that it's not about chronological age at all, but about perceived maturity and cultural norms. Age is an indicator of, not a determinant of maturity.
These laws also fail to make distinctions further up on the maturity scale. Particularly mature adults are not given more liberty and responsibility than others, because all men are equal under the law. But are they really? Are there not people who are more capable of handling liberty and responsibility than others?
I think there are, and since we are already distinguishing between minors and adults, I fail to see why we could not also distinguish between adults and über-adults.
Here are some things we could potentially permit über-adults to do:
- Make purchases exempt from consumer law
- Purchase and consume any chemical substance
- Self-prescribe medication
- Trade lower taxes for reduced welfare benefits
- Travel to and live in any country
- Enforce their own laws on their own property
It's basically a level of responsibility above that of adulthood. It's basically what most libertarians want, without making things harder for people who genuinely need to have their lives structured for them.
You may have noticed that I have failed to give any criteria for the attainment of über-adulthood status, and I admit that this is probably the hardest part of it. We already know that age doesn't cut it, and we couldn't let just anyone sign up for it. There are plenty of adults incapable of handling the responsibilities of über-adulthood, just as there are plenty of minors incapable of handling the responsibilities of adulthood.
Nevertheless, I do think that there are missing steps on the legal ladder of maturity, and that filling them would resolve much of the ancient conflict between authoritarianism and libertarianism.