The Proper Role of Government

A friend sent me a tweet today.  That tweet generated a lot of commentary on Twitter, and two of those comments sum up for me why I'm a conservative.  The first:

You can't comply your way out of tyranny.

Don't give in to a government that wants you to give in, especially if their reasoning is that "it's for the greater good", "it's for the children", or some other such silliness.  Don't give up your rights.  Government, and the people who go into government, are about controlling you and everyone around you; forget that, and you'll spend a lot of time clawing back what you gave up so easily.

The other comment I read:

Either you limit government, or government will limit you.

See my last full paragraph above.

So what should a government do?  What is the proper role of government?  Some smart guys told us back in 1776:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—-That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

Government doesn't exist to be our nanny or our oppressor; rather, it exists to secure our God-given rights against those who would take them from us.  That is the proper role of government.