The Function of Government in a Free Society

From a Radio Talk by Mr. Eric Butler, Director of the Victorian League of Rights (Australia), as summed up in “New Times":

Aldous Huxley, the famous English writer and philosopher, has related the story of the Indian woman who, although her husband and several of her children had been eaten by a tiger, refused to leave the area where this tiger was living. When asked why she persisted in staying where there was such danger, the woman replied, "Because there are no Governments here." It is undoubtedly an exaggeration to suggest that Governments are more dangerous than man-eating tigers. But, nevertheless, it is a fact which history proves, that Governments can become tyrannical unless their powers are severely restricted. Modern Governments possess powers over the lives of individuals which our British forefathers would never have tolerated.

However, individuals today cannot logically complain about the vast powers of Governments and their heavy demands upon the taxpayer if they persist in urging Governments to do things which could be better done by individuals or local bodies. If electors accept the idea that it is the function of Governments to provide them with security from the cradle to the grave, they cannot be surprised if Governments insist upon levying high taxation in order to help finance what has been described as the Welfare State.

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One of the great tragedies of recent times has been an undermining of understanding concerning the legitimate function of Governments in a free society.

Many young people who came of voting age during and immediately after the war have accepted rigid Government controls as a normal thing. And many others have accepted the totalitarian doctrine that strong Governments are essential for individual security. The truth of the matter is that every increase in the power of Governments lessens the powers and rights of the individual.

It is therefore essential that those individuals who desire a genuinely free society, strongly resist every policy which will increase the powers of Governments, particularly if those powers concern economic activities. The traditional British conception of Government has been that it should protect and preserve those constitutional safeguards which, while guaranteeing the individual the maximum freedom, also ensure that he cannot interfere with the rights and freedoms of other individuals...

For example, most people will readily agree that a monopoly of any description is an evil thing, that it permits the individual no genuine alternative. But, strangely enough, many people uncritically accept the specious idea that the individual will benefit if the Government takes over a monopoly. A Government monopoly is the worst form of monopoly, and the most difficult for the individual to resist. People living behind the Iron Curtain are painfully aware of this fact.

A Government genuinely concerned about protecting the rights of the individual would pursue the appropriate policies to make any form of monopoly impossible. If freedom-loving electors desire a society in which every individual can be free and secure in his rights, they must insist upon the basic principle that Governments exist to serve them, not to control them. Governments can be good servants but the most despotic masters.