The Role of the United States Government

The constant tension between the buyer and seller kept the American economic system productive. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. The top 5% of wage earners paid 56. It was the job of a liberal government to provide the rights to the conditions for autonomy such as the right to education, leisure, and to participate in the cultural life of the community (Gaus 3). Thus, by removing choice and creating dependency, the free market competition was unable to function to keep prices low and quality high. The result is that government control has become a replacement for individual decision making and has replaced the principles of freedom with a reliance on government. Thomas Jefferson pointed out that good government is limited government and that limited government encourages our civic happiness. At the same time, tax liabilities to a majority of Americans were decreased. Because individual choice was eliminated, the recipient was unaware of the price of the service being delivered, and the provider was limited to a fixed price. Also, the democratic process that would normally control spending was thwarted, because these programs existed and grew externally to the legislative process. He favored a constitutional government of enumerated powers that would restrain men from harming one another, but would otherwise leave them to their own pursuits. In fact, mandatory spending has grown to 60 percent and discretionary spending has fallen to 34 percent of total spending (Steuerle et al 77). The idea was that the dispersion of power that results from a free market economy based on private property protects the liberty of subjects against encroachments by the state.