The Purpose of Government
by Michael Stevens
March 26, 2025 – 500 words – 3 min read
Government is not our master—it is our shield. It exists not to rule but to secure. The Founders understood this. They had lived under a king who thought power was its reason. So they built something new—government by consent, restrained by design.
John Adams wrote that government is instituted for the common good—not for gain or glory, not for men or classes, but for the safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people. Jefferson reminded us that life and happiness—not control—are the only legitimate goals of good government.
If men were angels, Madison said, none of this would be necessary. But men are not angels. Nor are those who govern them. That is why we have separation of powers—to prevent tyranny. We have checks and balances—so no single branch can seize control. A lone executive or a single judge defying the law and the Constitution can tilt the system toward a quiet coup. The balance is delicate but deliberate.
We have a Bill of Rights—not to grant liberty but to remind the government what it cannot take. We have federalism to preserve the role of the states, limit the excess of the federal government, and remind all the source of all government vests in the people who ordained this Constitution. We built a republic, not a democracy, to shield liberty from the tyranny of the majority.
The government does not give us our rights. It protects the ones we already have. It does not create wealth—but guards the ground on which free people may labor and build. It does not shape souls—but preserves the space where conscience may speak without fear.
Washington warned us: Government is not reason or eloquence—it is force. It must be just, restrained, and always answerable to the people. Without control, it drifts into despotism. Without purpose, it collapses into confusion.
American design was not an accident. It was forged in study and blood. It is not a machine to run our lives but a framework to preserve the space in which we govern ourselves.
Alexander Hamilton reminded us that representation is imperfect unless it brings with it the spirit of the people. That spirit—ordered liberty, moral courage, and self-rule—must endure.
The purpose of government is not to build utopia. It is to defend the freedom in which a moral people may live well.
When it forgets this, we must remind it.
When it resists, we must restrain it.
When it falls, we rebuild.
Not for power. But for liberty, under God.