So Much For Freedom And Small Government

[quaker bill]

9. Freedom is not the same as small government

These two concepts have been masterfully conflated, but are not the same. The world contains many examples of small and weak government and few of these places have the sort of freedom we seek. They are generally better examples of tribalism, economic exploitation, corruption, environmental degradation and usually are fairly dangerous places to live.

There can be more freedom through bigger and more effective government. Bigger governments give you the freedom to twist the tap and generally get clean water to drink, you have the freedom to be less concerned with who is dumping crap upstream of you. Bigger governments provide uniformly high quality schools and so you get the freedom of not having to figure out where your kids will be safe and well cared for and then making life altering decisions to get them there. Big government can protect you from economic exploitation and when well run prevents your savings from being plundered by speculators and fraudsters.

In a modern world, small government and freedom can be opposed.