Skip to main content

Gratitude for Restrained Government, and Restraints on Government


We at the 1889 Institute spend a lot of time critiquing government. I mean a lot. It’s what we do: we want to make government the best it can be, and that starts with identifying its flaws. But it is important, from time to time, to acknowledge that on the whole, Americans have it pretty good when it comes to governance. Here’s what I’m thankful for in government this year: 

 National defense. We live in perhaps the freest society that has ever existed. That would assuredly not be so if it were not for our strong commitment to deterring every foreign threat to our national sovereignty. What use is restrained government if a country is not safe from foreign invaders?

Courts. Courts not only determine who is guilty of a crime and who is not, they also provide a forum to resolve sometimes vicious disputes without violence. If free trade is the bridge to human flourishing, then a legal system that upholds property rights, enforces contracts, and deters crime forms the truss of that bridge. 

Police. They are the enforcement arm of the courts (eventually, if you continue to defy the courts, these are the men and women with guns who ensure you do what you are told or escort you to jail). They provide general deterrence to criminal activity (the threat of arrest that keeps many honest people honest). They provide specific deterrence to the criminal element (locking them away from the public). While not every individual action taken by every individual officer is without fault, they are, on the whole, undeniably a force for good.  

Roads. Roads facilitate trade. They make everyone better off - those who commute an hour every day, and those who are homebound and have their needs delivered courtesy of giant online retailers. 

Freedom of speech. We have an almost-absolute right to think, say and write what we want. This is subject to very limited exceptions - each of which has a good justification. 

Freedom of religion. We have a broad rights to worship as we please without government interference. While there is work left to be done to ensure that freedom of conscience does not stop where freedom to earn a living begins, there has never been a time when so many people were so free to worship as they choose. This is not a call to let up on fighting for the next inch - give an inch the secular extremists will take a mile. But it is well worth being thankful. For most of history a man’s birth determined his religion. For most of history a woman’s husband determined her religion. While parentage still carries exceptional weight in determining religion, there is no government thumb on the scale pushing people towards or away from their parents’ religion. This is as it ought to be. 

Due process. We have broad rights to ensure that the government doesn’t get too involved in our lives. If we are charged with a crime, there is a whole process dedicated to giving us a chance to clear our name. We also enjoy a presumption of innocence, which starts before charges are ever filed: that is why warrants are required before (most) searches may be legally conducted. 

Right to keep and bear arms. Lest these important protections become nothing more than parchment barriers, we have the right to keep and bear arms. This is both so law abiding citizens have the means to defend themselves, and so would-be tyrants meet armed resistance at home before they can conquer the world. There is a reason that every tyrant disarms his own populace before he reveals his tyranny. 

Interestingly, many of the things I’m most thankful for in Government are its limitations. While government is incredibly necessary to human flourishing, restraints on government power are part and parcel of good government necessary for human flourishing. 

Mike Davis is Research Fellow at 1889 Institute. He can be reached at mdavis@1889institute.org.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of 1889 Institute.


Popular posts from this blog

Muddy, Shallow Thinking Versus Clarity in Education Reform

Monopolies are the best! If we are to gain maximum efficiency and create the greatest value for people, monopoly is the way to go. Competition creates administrative inefficiency since instead of one set of managers, there are as many as there are companies, and all of them cost money. Competitive companies make products that do the same basic things, but waste resources by making products with different features. Standardized products would save money. Were research and development under one roof, instead of many competitive ones, researchers could coordinate more closely, saving money and ultimately being even more innovative. Monopolies would therefore benefit everyone. Everything in the first paragraph is, of course, balderdash . Monopolies, especially those created by government, stifle innovation, develop bloated management, produce too little at low quality, and charge too much. Why? Because they can. They’re monopolists. Without competition and with nearly guaranteed ...
Read more

No License, Sherlock: Licensing for Private Investigators

What does a private investigator do? Surely, we’re all familiar with various movies and shows featuring the exciting adventures of Sherlock Holmes or Magnum PI. However, reality is often disappointing, and the fact is private investigation is usually dull and relatively safe. Private investigators are tasked with conducting surveillance and fact-finding missions for their clients, but they gain no special powers to do so.  My recent paper deals with the licensing of private investigators. Oklahoma’s private investigator licenses are governed by the Council of Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET), which follows the advice of a committee made up of people who run private investigative agencies. Improved competition is not likely to be in the best interest of these agencies, so it is questionable whether they should be in a gate-keeping position they could easily turn to their advantage. Private Investigators must undergo a series of trainings and pas...
Read more

The Unfairness of Concentrated Wealth is NOTHING Compared to the Unfairness of Redistributing It

Socialist types like to accuse rich corporate types of having “too much” wealth. Simple fairness, they claim, dictates that one person should not have so much when so many have so little. But if we’re going to talk about fairness, let’s really give it fair consideration. That means looking beyond the petty jealousy and thinking about the fairness of seizing wealth from those who earned it and giving it to those who did not.   How did the wealthy get that way? The socialist types claim that the greedy capitalists exploit their workers and their consumers. Is that true? Let’s start with the workers. Jeff Bezos may be greedy. I wouldn’t know, I’ve never met him. But I did work for him - in fact I hired other people to work for him. So I can say with reasonable certainty that he hasn’t created his enormous wealth by exploiting his workers. They were all there voluntarily.   Before attending law school, I spent several months working for the temp agency that hires seasonal workers ...
Read more

A Teacher Walkout Leader’s Distorted View of School Choice

The Tulsa World recently published a piece by a leader of the teacher walkout a few years ago predictably opposing Governor Stitt’s proposal to expand the Equal Opportunity Education Scholarship program. There is much to take issue with in the piece, which is full of disinformation, but perhaps the most preposterous claim is the following: You’ve probably also heard of “school choice.” The term is extremely misleading because it implies that parents don’t have a choice, when the reality is every parent already has school choice for their child. Parents can choose to send their child to a public school, private school, religious school or even home school. School choice isn’t about giving parents more options. It’s about using taxpayer dollars to give wealthy families a discount on their choice of school. (emphasis added) Try telling that to the truancy officer. The model of public education in America is that we assign every student to a government school base...
Read more