Government’s Proper Duties

Government at all levels should be limited to the following duties:

-- Protect private property

-- Enforce contracts

-- Keep people from directly hurting others by force or fraud

-- Defend the nation (a federal function)  

In the long run, everything else government does causes more harm than good. No political system is perfect, of course. But if there’s a need from which someone can make a profit, or for which someone can make a gift, the need will be pretty well filled, better and at less cost than government can possibly do.

Except for the military and possibly the police, all government employees would serve at the whim of elected officials. Government’s most active branch would be the judiciary, whose employees would serve at the whims of judges.

Legislators and judges would be subject to term limits. For legislatures, meeting just a few weeks a year should be quite enough, thank you.