Overreach

From Nullifying Tyranny: “Many may enter politics thinking that they will use their office to ‘do good’ or ‘help the unfortunate,” neither of which is the legitimate role of government.”

Today let’s focus on the second part of that quote—the “legitimate role” part. What is civil government’s role? Is it to force you to pay taxes to pay for programs you find morally reprehensible? Is it to force you to go to city hall and pay for a permit so you can put up a privacy fence ON YOUR OWN PROPERTY? Is it to force you to E-Check your car? Is it to make sure your grass doesn’t get too high, or that you don’t kill too many deer in a season or catch too many fish, or that you don’t evangelize at an Islamic festival? And saints preserve you if you get caught fishing without a license, or if you’re not wearing your seatbelt. The horror!

So what’s the legitimate role of government? Well, there probably are lots of different definitions (especially a vast gulf between the definitions offered by hardcore conservatives and hardcore liberals), but here’s one I really like: “the only legitimate role for the federal government is to protect private property, facilitate free trade between the sovereign states, and protect national borders” (from Nullifying Tyranny).

That’s right: First, the government must keep others from taking your stuff. Put more poetically, the government must “protect private property from those who would live parasitically by stealing from productive people” (NT). Second, the government must make sure people can conduct business freely across state lines (for example, letting me buy insurance for my family from a guy in Montana—if he has the best coverage for the best price). Third, our government must protect the nation from outsiders. One thing that means is that we shouldn’t stick our hands into the middle of foreign tar babies (more on this in a later post). It also means the government has a constitutional responsibility to button up the border and keep illegal immigrants out of our country.

That list includes three things. . . .

Does it include free lunch programs? No.

Does it include the Department of Education? No.

Does it include (thanks for nothing, FDR) the New Deal? Nope.

Does it include implementing the use of full-body scanners for my 90+ year-old grandma when she flies to Albuquerque? Can't say I see that in there.

Does it in some way include funding for abortion-rights groups? Not in the least.

So what’s wrong with this picture? What am I missing? How is it that we got here—to 2010 America, a place so far removed from where our great nation began? And how do we get back to a minimalist, constitutional government?

I guess we’ll figure that out together, yes?