Government failing at its only job

(My Eastern New Mexico News column for October 8, 2025)

Much of the conflict over government stems from different ideas about what its job is— or should be.

If we strip away all the nonsense and propaganda- all the excuses- there's only one justification for government that holds water; it's there to protect the life, liberty, and property- the fundamental human rights- of the people forced to live with it. A job it seems unwilling or unable to do. Anything else it does is a direct betrayal of this purpose.

So much for the notion of a "night watchman" government.

If government were capable of fulfilling this purpose, it might be worthwhile to keep one around. Since government is the main problem we are likely to encounter in our daily lives, it's not worth the expense or the risk. Government is the wolf at the door, demanding you let it in so it can protect you from wolves.

So-called "safety net" programs- welfare, subsidies, and other handouts- are often sold as government's duty, but it's a trick. Every cent funneled through these schemes must first be stolen from the rightful owners through taxation. If government's job is to protect property, picking your pocket to hand the loot to me is a contradiction. You can't protect property by stealing property. You can't protect rights by violating rights.

No one needs bureaucrats taking their money and then deciding who to give it to. Charity is better at filling real needs while correcting for mistakes or scams. Stealing money through taxation, then giving it away (even if they aren't trying to buy votes with it) isn't generosity. It doesn't make for a kinder society. It breeds dependence and resentment, and it undermines the foundations of society. If there were any such thing as a "social contract", this would break it.

If you assume people can't run their own lives, and treat them as if they can't, they'll prove you right. If you try to remove the cost of being irresponsible, no one has any incentive to be responsible. If you insist on governing them, they'll never learn to govern themselves.

If government is to be tolerated, it must stick to its job of protecting your rights. Not violating you in the name of what someone pretends is a right. Not being a nightmarish nanny or a parallel universe Robin Hood who steals from the people to give to the state.

It can't do this, so why put up with it?

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