As today is the day after Thanksgiving, I have the day off (like many). So, I surf, looking for "good stuff". Today, I found yet another one that is topical, given that it is budget time here in New Hampshire for towns, counties, and the state.
Anyone putting together a government budget or evaluating such should always be asking "What is the proper role of government?". I tend to agree with our Founding Fathers – one that is limited and stays out of the way of citizens – it is not the role of government to heal every hurt, salve every wound, and mitigate every bad decision. Those should be the purview of every grown up adult in society – first to themselves, their family, and then to their neighbors. That is a personal decision, not a governmental function. Unfortunately, many who cry for government to do more and more seem to believe that we, the adults, can do less and less. Heck, why do more when government will do it for me (and since somebody else is paying, I can be a free rider!).
Well, back to surfing – went to visit Chuck Muth’s place – a smart curmudgeon from Nevada that plays well with what I think on the matter. Here were a couple of his quotes:
“What should the role of the government be? The founders asked themselves that question and came up with a pretty good answer. They said the role of government should be one thing, to protect liberty. That should be the only purpose of government.”
- Ron Paul
I’m not sure that I totally agree that it is the only role (fer instance, I like the idea that government puts the character cretins into jail for bad actions) for government, but it is one thing that many politicians seem to forget as they are trying to justify their existence (and salaries) as they "fix" things for us.
“We don’t seek to live anyone’s life for him. We only seek to secure his rights, guarantee him opportunity, guarantee him opportunity to strive, with government performing only those needed and constitutionally sanctioned tasks which cannot otherwise be performed.”
- Barry Goldwater
Now, add this to Ron Paul’s, and you start to get the picture. But wait! There’s more! In his comment section of the post, someone decided to add a few more. Thus, I will ask you – what is your reaction to these? Leave me a comment – let me know if you agree or disagree with one or more of these fine folks. Better yet, let me know if you agree or disagree with the question above (…"proper role…") – give me a good answer, and I’ll post it up.
For example:
“I don’t believe in a government that protects us from ourselves.”
- Ronald Reagan
If I make a bad decision, it should be my responsibility to live out the consequences of that decision. Too often, government tries "to right" my stupidity (e.g., I decided to get hooked on IV drugs – why should government supply me with needles? Or this one from Britain – if you get drunk wearing high heels, the police will give you flat footware).
More after the jump!
“Government is not the solution, it’s the problem.”
–Ronald Reagan.“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare but only those specifically enumerated.”
–Thomas Jefferson.“Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government.”
–James Madison.“Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”?
– William Pitt“I think we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious.”
–Thomas Jefferson“I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and the duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which is in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit… The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow citizens in misfortune. This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated. Federal (AKA State) aid in such cases encourages the expectation of paternal care on the part of the Government and weakens the sturdiness of our national character, while it prevents the indulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and conduct which strengthens the bonds of a common brotherhood.”
—President Grover Cleveland“The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.”
– John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty” 1859“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer.”?
–Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
?–Thomas JeffersonExperience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government] those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.?
–Thomas Jefferson“Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty when the government’s purposes are beneficient. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
– Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis“It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error.”
– Justice Robert H. Jackson“The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves.”
– John Locke
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