An anecdote, a true one. I am (was) a historian by trade and spent about 30 years teaching history to college students, mostly 18-year-old freshmen, mostly Americans. One semester, I decided I would begin by giving the students a “pre-semester (non-credit) exam” on American history and culture. One of the multiple-choice questions was, “What is Jennifer Lopez known for?” Another question was, “According to our Founding Fathers, what is the purpose of government?” Of the 30 or so students in that class, every single student knew that Jennifer Lopez was famous for her big butt. Not one student knew the purpose of government according to our Founding Fathers (to protect property). That class was in California (c. 2005). I tried.
I would love to ask those two questions to the 535 members of Congress (not to mention the millions of national government bureaucrats) and see how many of them answered correctly. I am pretty sure that Asa Hutchinson and Mike Pence would both get at least the second question wrong, too.
The United States government, on the witness of our Founding Fathers, was created to “secure” (protect) our natural rights (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, i.e., property). As James Madison said, protecting the “faculties of men, from which the rights of property originate” is “the object of government." Government exists (at least if it is legitimate) to protect the lives and property of its citizens. That, really, is its major authentic function, but it isn’t the way to buy votes or tyrannize people, so very few governments ever limit themselves to their proper service.
When Asa Hutchinson talked with Tucker Carlson last week, he tried to defend his veto of an Arkansas bill that would have prevented the mutilation of children. He argued that his position was the “conservative” one because the Arkansas law was “government interference” in parents being allowed to “transition” their children. Not surprisingly, no conservative bought this repulsive position, and thankfully, Asa Hutchinson had no chance of winning the Republican nomination for President. Such ignorance of the purpose of government is a major reason why.
“Limited government” doesn’t mean “no government.” It would be nice if the government weren’t necessary. As Madison wrote, “If all men were angels, we wouldn’t need government.” But, alas, all men are not angels, and thus decent people need the protection of their property against evil gremlins, and that is what the government is supposed to do. That means protecting children, even against their parents if necessary, from being irrevocably maimed for life. As strongly as we support parents’ rights, being a parent doesn’t give a person the authority to kill or disfigure their own offspring. Children have rights, too, and must be secure from whoever would violate them to their harm. Because of Leftist degenerate immorality, sadly, there are many, many decadent, ill-equipped parents in America today. Children must be shielded against such monsters; that is the main purpose of “limited government.” Asa, go into the dustbin of history, please. You have no business representing the Republican Party or the American people.
Neither does Mike Pence. Tucker also interviewed Pence, and the former Vice-President, like most Uniparty members, defended the wasted billions of American taxpayer dollars on a useless (to Americans) war in Ukraine. I have yet to hear anyone tell us what vital American interest is at stake in Ukraine. Pence also knows nothing about “limited” government or the protection of property as a purpose of that government. The United States national government is $32 trillion in debt, soon to be $36 trillion, thanks to Kevin McCarthy and his “Fiscal Irresponsibility Act.” People in Washington seem to have absolutely no conception that it is the money of the American people—and now their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren’s money—that they are frittering away. Money is property; my money is my property. That is why theft is wrong; somebody takes something that doesn’t belong to them. Pence wants to continue to take the money of the people in America and waste it on a war halfway across the world. Why? The job of the American government is to protect the American people, not the Ukrainian people. When we are threatened, then we need our government’s protection. The Russians and Ukrainians have been fighting for generations. As long as there is one Russian and one Ukrainian in the world, they are going to fight. What business is it of America—unless one of those countries threatens us? Why are we continuing to go into debt, squandering the American people’s hard-earned money on wars that have absolutely nothing to do with us?
I believe that United States government leaders made a horrible mistake after the fall of the Soviet Union. A supreme effort should have been made to try to diplomatically bring the new Russia into the Western orbit, to help civilize and rebuild that nation, to aid the Russian people and turn them into our friends. But we did nothing of the sort. And now, because we have, for Joe Biden’s personal motives, sided with Ukraine in a war that we have no vital stake in, we have alienated Russia and pushed that country into the camp of our REAL enemy, China. But here is Pence, defending as wrong-headed, unconstitutional, untrue-American policy as could exist.
We must certainly keep an eye on Russia, as we should every powerful nation on earth. If Russia threatens us financially or in some other non-military way, we squeeze back decisively. If Russia attacks us, we kick butt. Hard. Mercilessly. With REAL men, not perverts like “Rachel” Levine. Otherwise, we mind our own business and solve our own problems. That is what conservative “limited government” is. Thankfully, neither Hutchinson nor Pence has a chance to win the Republican nomination. There are already plenty of godless, frivolous Americans who believe as they do. They are called “Democrats.”
Many more articles, as well as audio and video podcasts, on my substack: mklewis929.substack.com. Free signup. Read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon. You can follow me on Twitter: @thailandmkl. And rumble: lewandcou