Why limit the government?

Why limit government? Why not?! 

• We do a better job describing Hell than Heaven. 
• We want to limit government, because we are opposed to excessive government. 
• We want to limit government because we support freedom and the free society.
• We want to limit government because we want to maximize opportunity, enterprise and creativity.
• We want to limit government because we want to permit individuals to go as far as their talents, ambitions, and industry can take them.
• We want to limit government because we want people to dream and to have the room to bring those dreams to fruition -- for themselves and their families.
• We want to limit government because we want to strengthen the institutions of civil society that tend to shrink as government grows. Institutions such as the family, church, synagogue, mosque, community, and the many voluntary associations are the bedrock of liberty and self-reliance.
• We want to limit government because it ought to be confined to certain minimal, but critical, functions and otherwise leave us alone.
• Government has nothing to give anybody except what it first takes from somebody, and a government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you've got.
• The political process is no way to run a business or almost anything else. The deficiencies, absurdities, and perverse incentives inherent in the political process are powerful enough to frustrate anyone with the best and most altruistic of intentions. It frequently exalts ignorance and panders to it. 
• A few notable exceptions aside, the political process tends to attract the most mediocre talent with motives that are questionable at best. Government runs on the political process and all of the problems endemic to politics show up in what government does and doesn't do.
• Politics is a serious business because it's the part where coercion puts flesh on the rhetorical bones.
• What makes a politician a politician and differentiates politics from all other walks of life is that the politician's words are backed up by his ability to deploy legal force on their behalf.
• Mutual consent encourages actual results and accountability, the political process puts a higher premium on the mere promise or claim of results and the shifting of blame to other parties.
• In the marketplace, you always pay for what you get. In politics, the connection between what you pay for and what you actually get is problematic at best.

Limiting government is a lofty endeavor. It's good, honest work. It's a powerful message when presented well.

Read the source article

Politics may not be the oldest profession, but the results are often the same.

Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force. 

Like fire, it can be a dangerous servant or a fearful master - America's Founders

Abraham Lincoln’s letter to his son's teacher

“My son starts school today. It is all going to be strange and new to him for a while and I wish you would treat him gently. It is an adventure that might take him across continents. All adventures that probably include wars, tragedy and sorrow. To live this life will require faith, love and courage.

So dear Teacher, will you please take him by his hand and teach him things he will have to know, teaching him – but gently, if you can. Teach him that for every enemy, there is a friend. He will have to know that all men are not just, that all men are not true. But teach him also that for every scoundrel there is a hero, that for every crooked politician, there is a dedicated leader.

Teach him if you can that 10 cents earned is of far more value than a dollar found. In school, teacher, it is far more honorable to fail than to cheat. Teach him to learn how to gracefully lose, and enjoy winning when he does win.

Teach him to be gentle with people, tough with tough people. Steer him away from envy if you can and teach him the secret of quiet laughter. Teach him if you can – how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure and despair in success. Teach him to scoff at cynics.

Teach him if you can the wonders of books, but also give time to ponder the extreme mystery of birds in the sky, bees in the sun and flowers on a green hill. Teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if every one tell him they are wrong.

Try to give my son the strength not to follow the crowd when everyone else is doing it. Teach him to listen to every one, but teach him also to filter all that he hears on a screen of truth and take only the good that comes through.

Teach him to sell his talents and brains to the highest bidder but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. Let him have the courage to be impatient, let him have the patient to be brave. Teach him to have sublime faith in himself, because then he will always have sublime faith in mankind, in God.

This is the order, teacher but see what best you can do. He is such a nice little boy and he is my son.”

The authenticity of this letter remains unconfirmed.