This is a post of mine from July 2003; I like the CS Lewis quote, but I'm not sure I'd say everything the way it's stated here...
Hmm. Posted by Tim at February 12, 2004 02:44 AM
CS Lewis, though a Brit, makes a great summary of the concept of limited government:"[I]t is easy to think the State has a lot of different objects -- military, political, economic, and what not. But in a way things are much simpler than that. The State exists simply to promote and protect the ordinary happiness of human beings in this life. A husband and a wife chatting over a fire, a couple of friends having a game of darts in a pub, a man reading a book in his own room or digging in his own garden -- that is what the State is there for. And unless they are helping to increase and prolong and protect such moments, all the laws, parliaments, armies, courts, police, economics, etc., are simply a waste of time."
That's right. The State doesn't exist for income redistribution, as a jobs program, to be the morals police, to GIVE us our rights; no, the State is instituted by God to protect us from attacks on our God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, be they threatened by foreign invasion or domestic crime or the media or a corporation. But who will guard the guards themselves? That's you and me, buddy. And hopefully, we'll fill in some of the blanks: help the poor, maintain high standards of morality, act as forces for good with the help of God. Then maybe the Nanny State will get back to its legitimate role.