Themes of Paternalism in the Republic

I have been thinking about the many different forms of paternalism in the Republic, and how Socrates is not immune to using forms of manipulation when talking with other people. In the city of words that Socrates and the other men are constructing, where a "ruler as such" is the ultimate paternal figure, it seems impossible for people to do what Socrates continually entreats them to do: think critically on their own. Socrates' very method of conversing with individuals and acting as a catalyst for them to examine themselves and their society seems counter to any notion of the sort of city that is being constructed, so I do believe Socrates actually believes a city should be constructed in the way they are talking about. However, there still seems to be a paradox, and that is that Socrates wants individuals to think for themselves, but he uses rhetorical tricks to appeal to them. While we can say that this is alright because, unlike a sophist, Socrates does this because he truly wants to help the young men of Athens, but that seems rather consequential to me, and I am still not sure how comfortable I am with the implications of curtailing individuals' freedoms of thought and choice, both in the city of words and Socrates' method of teaching.