Why limit the role of government?
Because government has at its disposal a virtual monopoly on the use of force. When government is not constrained to finite functions, neither is the use of force. Government can foment any action it wants, so long as its money lasts and the people approve.
So what happens when you combine infinite potential action with infinite potential money? Modern monetary theory allows the idea that when government is in control of its currency, it can manufacture into existence all the money it needs to run any program it desires. Infinite money allows for infinite funding to infinite purpose.
The only thing that gets in the way is the approval of the people. For this, government turns to fear. When the people are afraid of something, they’re more likely to commit to the notion that force and violence are useful and acceptable.
The policy of fear will continue until the threat subsides. Which it never does. Politicians, unconstrained by any notion that the power of government should be limited, and unconstrained by the amount of money it might have at its disposal, then declare war on the things that have people worried: poverty, terrorism, crime, drugs, loneliness, hunger, and so on.
Consider recent modern examples:
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson declared War on Poverty. In 1971, President Richard Nixon declared War on Drugs. In 2001, President George W. Bush declared War on Terrorism. None of these has ended, and at present, it is unlikely they ever will.
To fight poverty, the government created a series of new or expanded programs, chief among those Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Stamps, necessarily creating money that it needed but didn’t have, necessarily devaluing the currency, making it harder for poor people to make ends meet, necessarily making it harder for the poor to escape poverty, necessarily requiring the government to create new programs to resolve the people’s fears about poverty.
To battle drugs, the government extended prohibitions on drugs it deemed unsafe. But where fifty years ago the government fought heroin, marijuana, and cocaine, now, the government’s attention is on meth, fentanyl, and xylazine, which are deadlier in smaller amounts and therefore easier to evade detection. So then the government, untethered by monetary constraints, creates new programs, new regulations, and new vectors of attack to keep people feeling safe, thus guaranteeing the creation of stronger and deadlier drugs, which have people more afraid and more desirous of government action to combat the problem.
When the War on Terrorism started, it was billed as a military campaign aimed at bringing an end to the overseas regimes that harbored or encouraged international acts of terrorism. Today, the war continues, but the focus has shifted toward preemptive counter-terrorism, which relies heavily on domestic and international surveillance of activity and communications to identify and punish over-the-horizon threats. The list of these potential threats is endless, thus the fear about it is too, and so is the money needed to keep the war perpetual.
This is why government needs to be limited. If it is not, invariably, force, fear, and violence won’t be either.
Whenever you advise a ruler in the way of Tao,
Counsel him not to use force to conquer the universe.
For this would only cause resistance.
Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed.
Lean years follow in the wake of a great war.
Just do what needs to be done.
Never take advantage of power.Achieve results,
But never glory in them.
Achieve results,
But never boast.
Achieve results,
But never be proud.
Achieve results,
Because this is the natural way.
Achieve results,
But not through violence.Force is followed by loss of strength.
This is not the way of Tao.
That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.Chapter 30, Tao Te Ching, translation by Gia-fu Feng and Jane English