Why We Love Government
By Walter E. Williams
Unlike today’s Americans, the founders of our nation were suspicious, if not contemptuous, of government. Consider just a few of their words.
James Madison suggested that “All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree.”
Thomas Paine observed, “We still find the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry, and grasping at the spoil of the multitude. . . . It watches prosperity as its prey and permits none to escape without a tribute.”
John Adams reminded, “You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.”
