There is some pretty damned good evidence that the conservatives are wrong about letting people "do the right thing" or not, and that is the average retirement savings in America. We have a minimal mandatory plan (social security) and many optional "do the right thing" plans (IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP-IRAs, 401Ks, Simple-IRAs, life insurance, annuities). Yet the average American has done almost none of the optional plans!
People know their social security payout will suck, because the social security agency keeps on sending out those statements and all the media keeps on harping on social security running out of funds. Yet they DON'T plan for their future and use any of the optional plans. So there you go: The conservatives are obviously wrong about human nature. Or they are cynically planning their own good retirement while relishing the opportunity to look down on all those people who were not conservative enough to use the optional plans.
