What is the role of government? Should the government better the people, or should it allow people to better themselves?  Ultimately, the responsibility of success or failure lies within each individual. There is no doubt that humans can be nefarious, but we are, first and foremost, intrinsically good. As humans are good, we must embrace a limited government whose role is to ensure the rule of law and provide enough necessities to enable that chance of success. The government must emulate the people it represents.

Freedom without bounds is another word for anarchy, and capitalism can only be accountable in a system that enshrines the rights to property and the enforcement of contracts. In recent history, the government has laid hands into further policies, many of which can be arguably discerned as focused investments. However, that isn’t the purpose of a government, or more specifically, the American government that we live in. Enforcing outcomes where the government dictates who succeeds or fails, is not just authoritarian, but antithetical to the American way of life.

America was founded upon the ideal that everyone is free to succeed, and the government does have the duty to promote that general welfare. Access to education is crucial to enable this freedom, but a mandate is not. When people are forced onto a singular path for the sake of their own perceived welfare, then we live in a prison, albeit a pleasant one. If everyone has the freedom to succeed, then we must also have the freedom to fail. Otherwise, there is no freedom.

By Jason Z.