Perhaps the largest philosophical difference between progressives and conservatives has to do with the purpose of government. I won’t try to depict either view in any detail, beyond this brief description of some of the contrasts: conservatives like to talk about “limited government,” wile progressive tend to speak of the things government can accomplish for the good of the nation. Conservatives often claim government should “get out of the way” and allow the “free market” to function, whereas progressives will point out vital ways government can, and does, reign in the excesses of the market and the predatory practices of corporate greed.
I think everyone in America, progressives and conservatives alike, give at least lip service to the importance of America’s founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, for clues about how American government was “intended” to function. We could consult also the Articles of Confederation – but that structure didn’t work and was discarded. Many scholars also look at the personal communications between many of our Founders, particularly the Federalist Papers, and it would be interesting and valuable to look there as well. But those are not “official documents”, only statements of opinion.
For now, I’m going to examine two passages, one in the Declaration, and one in the Constitution. They are both brief and to the point, and I think they state, unequivocally, what the purpose of American government was intended to be.
In the Declaration, we have the following passage which begins the second paragraph:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...
Right there is the purpose of government, as seen by America’s founders, set forth clearly and without quibble. Governments are established for the purpose of securing various rights, among which are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness (and by the way, in this passage the word “Happiness” does not mean what it does today – but maybe more on that another time). Furthermore, government derives legitimate power only from the consent of the people.
The purpose of government, according to this passage, is not to “get out of the way”. It is to secure – that is, to ensure, to make certain of -- equality and rights. Government must have the power to do this. Government is the only institution that can do this.
Certainly corporations or the “free market” are not set up for the purpose of securing equality and rights. Corporations and markets are created for the purpose of obtaining profit, usually at the expense of others. The purpose of a corporation, for example, is to obtain more capital than someone else – it is the opposite of trying to secure equality and rights – no, it is the pursuit of inequality, the very embodiment of a desire to beat everyone else to the punch.
I’m not condemning or even criticizing that goal. I like having stuff. I am only pointing out that this is not the purpose which America’s founders set forth for our government. A corporation or an economic marketplace cannot substitute for the purposes of government, because corporations and markets are not created for the purpose of securing equality or rights.
That is the role America’s founders saw for legitimate governments in general – operating with the consent of The People, their role is to create and enforce equality and rights.
Turning to the Constitution, we can see the particular goals for our particular government. The Preamble states,
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The phrase “secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” is much like the purpose set forth in the Declaration – to “secure” certain “rights” including (among others) “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” This goal hasn’t changed. Government has the responsibility to do these things set out in the Declaration.
The phrase about forming ”a more perfect Union” has to do with why the Constitution is replacing the failed Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles, the Union was less “perfect”. The Articles primarily described a group of autonomous nations joined together for particular economic and military purposes, much like the European Union – and much like conservatives today claim to want under the phrase “states’ rights”. The Preamble to the Constitution admits that approach doesn’t work.
Additionally, the US government, as set up by the Constitution exists to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence[sic], [and] promote the general Welfare.” Beyond doubt, the US government exists for the purpose of doing these things. Justice and “domestic tranquility” both have to do with courts and law enforcement, not to mention such things as civil defense and disaster relief. The “common defense” covers military aspects. “General Welfare” is less obvious perhaps – but it is anything that “We the People” say it is, because (according to the Declaration) governments function by the “consent of the governed,” and (according to the Preamble) our particular government is set up by – and consists of – “We the People”.
This idea, that the Founders intended our government to be “limited” and to simply “get out of the way” of the “free market” is not at all what is described in our founding documents – and in fact, it seems opposed to the things our Founders specifically said governments in general exist to do, and our government in particular was created to ensure.
Ronald Reagan’s claims that “government is the problem” and that “the government that governs least, governs best” are clearly in direct opposition to the purposes of government as set forth in our founding documents. Modern Reaganite conservatism is, at its root, anti-American.