Found an Interesting Quote Today...

Was trolling Moxie's blog and found a really great quote today. One fellow was commenting that the essence of Big Government is its false promise to insulate the governed from risk. He included the following:

But insurance against risk is an infinite goal that government does not know how to accomplish. Worse, if government could somehow render our lives care-free by caring for all our needs, its success would put an end to our freedom and virtue by leaving us with nothing to do. Even blundering attempts to minimize risk endanger freedom and virtue by first raising expectations and then producing cynicism when life’s unhappy surprises remain. In short, the worst failing of big government is the way it has harmed the working and reputation of our self-government. This is what the party of government, the Democrats, has done.
--Harvey C. Mansfield (Harvard University)

I'm quite sure that I don't believe that any government on this planet can fulfill a promise of insurance against risk. God doesn't even do that!

To me, though, this seems to be a pretty good interpolation of the natural consequence of trusting the government to insure me from all harm even if they theoretically could. Being American I am not excited at all about anyone in government promising to do something that they can't do, and then interfering with my ability to do what I can do to mitigate my personal loss, and then defending their failure to protect me as if it were somehow my fault that my loss occurred in the first place! Being Southern further exacerbates my impatience with this sort of asinine nonsense.

One great example that I can think of that illustrates this point has to do with a suit that was brought against a local police department. The person who brought the suit charged that it was the police's responsibility to protect him or her from harm. They didn't protect the plaintiff and he or she ended up being assaulted. The police countered (and won) saying that they can't be everywhere at once and that while it was certainly unfortunate that John or Jane Doe was injured in this assault, it wasn't the police's fault that it happened.

But at the same time anti-gun politicians tell people that it is the police's job to keep them safe from harm; therefore, there is no need for common citizen proles to own firearms. See? On one hand the police can't be everywhere at once, but there are many who would prefer that you not be able to defend yourself! It's Orwellian logic at its best.

Reagan was right: smaller government is better government. Governments are just like puppies. They're cute, cuddly, and friendly when they are small, but then they grow up, hog the bed, start to smell, and leave larger and larger presents in your yard to step on. And if you don't watch them, they just might bite you in the butt.