Civicwiki:What government

In the early days of this country we were an independent lot. We saw the need for government but the problem was how to use it to maintain order without destroying liberty. This balance was the subject of the public debate leading up to the ratification of our constitution, articulated in essays that came down to us as The Federalist Papers and The Anti-Federalist Papers. It amounted to one side saying that the existing confederation of independent states provided all the government that could exist and be compatible with liberty; and the federalists saying that it was insufficient to maintain order and provide for a nation strong enough to defend itself against external (and internal) attacks on that liberty. Both sides agreed with Thomas Paine who wrote "government even in its best state is but a necessary evil in its worst state, an intolerable one." (Common Sense 1776).

In the early 20th century there was a reversal to the progressive view that saw government not as necessary evil, but as a force for good--correcting social flaws that the minimalist approach failed to address. This view holds that individual rights are not 'inalienable', but are created by government; and that a benevolent and powerful state can eliminate the economic imbalances created by our rapid industrialization and advance of technology. The constitution's limits on state power were seen as barriers to be overcome by a greater use of government power to be exercised by administrative agencies that receive power through legislative action and that major issues should be settled through legislative action of democratically elected representatives rather than through the Constitution's structure, protection of property, and judicial review.