By Gina Lee
The Role of Government
The role of government should be one in which people are able to live out their natural rights in a civil society; this includes protecting property rights and the ability to buy, sell, and trade; Moreover, the freedom to assemble in worship and live out one’s moral convictions should be protected not only because of natural God-given rights, but through the adherence to constitutional law. The government should seek to protect the rights of each citizen and should encourage a productive economy where the market can work and function as it should with freedom to create and compete in the marketplace. The central responsibility of government rests in two functions.
Central Responsibilities
The first function of government is the protective function against faction, as well as domestic and international danger. There should be an “enforcement of rules against theft, fraud, and violence” (Gwartney et al., 2016, p. 111). The second is the productive function; this would evidence itself by providing a stable economy. “The provision of a stable monetary and price environment is one of the most important productive functions of government” (2016, p. 112). When the government abrogates their role, it is then that the people of a society suffer the consequences; thus, there are limits to governmental power. If there are no limits with checks and balances, there is then only authoritarianism and tyranny.
Limits Within Governance
Taking or consuming what is rightfully the property of another is what Frederic Bastiat would call “legal plunder.” This type of system is a dangerous system because it is a “source for further evils. . .” (2010, p. 25). It can also “spread, multiply, and develop into a system” (2010, p. 25). When a government uses the legal system to overreach and misuse its power, then a tyrannical government led by a socialistic regime will become evident. When there is legal plunder, and law is used to continue its unconstitutional plans, then the resistance towards it is far more strategic and difficult. “For when plunder is abetted by the law, it does not fear your courts. . . Rather, it may call upon them for help” (p. 27). Yet, there is always a proper function of the law. Law, as Bastiat would state is “organized justice” (p. 29). Law should never be used as an excuse to obliterate the God-given freedom and liberty of human beings—to desecrate their natural rights; for when that happens law is no longer just. Is there such thing as a “little bit” of socialism? Isolated events where the government interferes tends to create an evil greater problem than before. As Ludwig von Mises states: If the government is left unchecked, it will come to be that “. . .everything in the whole economic system, is determined by the government. And this, clearly, is socialism” (2006, p. 46).
Concluding Thoughts
A great leader does what is just and good for the people that has entrusted him to serve and lead; he is generous in that he doesn’t do what merely benefits his own wellbeing but considers the rights of his people. One can find in the biblical context the oppressive nature of cruel governance. Nehemiah declares in Nehemiah 5:15: “The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people and took from them for their daily ration forty shekels of silver. Even their servants Lorded it open the people. But I did not so, because of the fear of God” (English Standard Version, 2008).
References
Bastiat, Frederic. (2010). The Law. Simon & Brown. (Originally worked published 1850).
English Standard Version. (2008). Crossway Bibles.
Gwartney, James D. Stroup, Richard L., Lee, Dwight R., Ferrarini, Tawni H., Calhoun, Joseph P. (2016). Common Sense Economics. St. Martin’s Press.
Mises, Ludwig von (2006). Economic Policy. Mises Institute.
Faith, Family, Dance, and Lemonade 