I agree with the theory in this article - let's test it out - of course for a free society to really work, the majority of people would have to be self-governing - that would mean that each person would have to strive, against the tide, to fact check before hitting send, to pause for a little while when thinking they were right - to possibly research their point of view thoroughly - and if they did not, then it would be up to the market itself to take those same actions.
It would be lovely if steemit could be a place to test out our freedoms - because being free does require responsibility and maturity and discipline and contemplation on the part of the community. We would have to throw a lot of the things which have become 2nd nature to us out the window - like self-centerdness, knowing I am right -
instead we might have to employ entirely different principles to attempt to live by - consideration of others and the good of the whole, consulting the silence for an answer before acting rashly, allowing for non-conformity and encouraging it, allowing for mistakes, being autonomous but considering how what I do might affect others etc - ie good manners -
In my experience, being self-governing is far more rewarding than having any other entity govern me - it allows me to make my own mistakes - and learn from them - I am not sure it is possible for large groups of people to be self-governing all at once. America was supposed to be that experiment but we stacked the cards against us by how we went about setting up the experiment. We can try again on this smaller platform, but we are going to encounter the same pitfalls our forefathers and mothers, sisters and brothers have encountered and maybe it will give us a little more compassion for them.
Personally I do better trying to live by principles than following rules...but that's just me.