So why is limited government a vital and necessary ingredient for opportunity to blossom and thrive? Quite simply, opportunity thrives where human beings have the ability to make choices that will allow them to advance, without interference or obstruction from others. By its very nature, government exists to obstruct. This is quite appropriate when the government obstructs killers, thieves, vandals, and drunk drivers from violating the God-given rights of others to their lives, liberty, and property. When the government acts to protect and secure the rights of its citizens by obstructing those who would violate those rights, it is doing what it was made to do. But when government does almost anything else, it is obstructing those same citizens from realizing opportunities they could otherwise pursue.
Take taxes...the government certainly does. Every dollar the government takes from its citizens in taxes results in slightly less opportunity for those citizens. Or consider government regulation of wages - when the government decides to require a business to pay its workers $1 more per hour, the opportunity to hire one more worker may be erased. That's an opportunity lost for both the boss and the potential employee. Now, no sane person argues that there should be a total elimination of taxes or a total abdication of government regulation in the workplace. But it must be recognized that every governmental exercise of power is a limitation on its citizens' choices, and that is an opportunity killer.
America is distinct in the world today because of the carefully constructed limitations on the size, reach, and power of government in our lives. The founders of this nation created such a system by ingenious design...and it has resulted in the greatest land of opportunity the world has yet seen. It is my earnest hope that we do not now wreck what the Founding Fathers so carefully constructed.
