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Why Is Government Necessary? Essay

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Why is government necessary? In the words of Alexander Hamilton, “Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint” (Federalist No. 15 137). Men have a sin nature and must have an authority set in place to keep them from falling into anarchy. America has federal and state governments with a system of checks and balances for exactly this reason, but one sector of the government has overstepped the bounds that were set for it in this country’s infancy. In order to answer the question of whether more power should be put into the hands of the federal or state government, three things must be considered: the history of state’s rights in America, the differing types of government, and the constitution itself. What is the government’s purpose? As defined by Bastiat, a French economist and author, it is “the organization of the natural right of lawful defense… for the purpose… of doing what they have a right to do, to secure persons, liberties, and properties, and to maintain each in its right, so as to cause justice to reign over all” (The Law 3). Therefore, if the government is doing something other than acting to protect the lives, liberties, or property of its citizens, it is stepping out of its bounds. In regards to the federal government, it has done this to an extreme. Before discussing the problems with the federal government’s megalomania, it is vital to understand the

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