An untold reason for small government

What would humanity really look like without the manifestations of politicians?

Why keep government small? There are common answers that perhaps you have heard your whole life: The bigger the government, the more money that must be drawn from the public to pay for services. The bigger the government, the more agencies, statutes, and regulations that must be obeyed or managed. The bigger the government, the greater the threat to individual liberty.

I’ll add an uncommon answer: The bigger the government, the greater the tendency for government to map itself onto the whole of human existence. Humanity, then, becomes a product of political will, instead of being a product of creation, God’s image, Imago Dei.

When the state becomes the center of society, the state defines everything, gives names and definition to everything, conditions, contours, and colors the way we experience (or don’t experience) reality.

Once rules are made and names are given, society reflects what is politically possible rather than the extent of raw human potential. Humanity’s own rationality and intellect, moral nature, free will, and spirituality becomes subordinate to political interests.

Does this, then, handcuff humanity? Does this then make humankind worship government as it does a deity?

What might happen if humanity, instead, were defined by our relationship with God, nature, and the cosmic order?

“Ah but humans are imperfect!” a critic might argue. “They’re likely to take the agency they’re given and make a mess of society!”

This is why I do not argue for no government, although others might. Some semblance of government could be necessary to adjudicate acts of violence against life, liberty, and property. Short of that, I find government too invasive.

So what of environmental protection? What of providing basic safety nets for food, healthcare, and housing?

If these are so important, isn’t humanity better served when society’s problems are addressed through voluntary engagements instead of through the threat and use of government force? In other words, is it better for people to give to the poor and the needy, and to care for the environment because they want to, or because force might be used against them if they don’t?

It is in this limitedly-fashioned government, that I believe we would see the true extent of human potential: compassion, connection, and community would reveal itself. We would see that human flourishing is a thing that need not be weighted down by laws and rules, and we would the reality and the beauty of creation finally shine through.

If we believe that life is truly is a creation of the heavens, wouldn’t that be preferable to the manifestations of politicians?

The Way is ever nameless.
Though simple and subtle,
The world cannot lead it.
If princes and kings could follow it,
All things would by themselves abide,
Heaven and Earth would unite
And sweet dew would fall.
People would by themselves find harmony,
Without being commanded.

As soon as rules were made, names were given.
There are already many names.
One must know when it is enough.
Those who know when it is enough will not perish.

What the Way is to the world,
The stream is to the river and the sea.

— Chapter 32 of the Tao Te Ching, translation by Stefan Stenudd