June 7, 2013 5:00PM # There’s No Such Thing as ‘Good Government’ By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE *National Journal*’s [Ron Fournier](http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/how-obama-scandals-threaten-to-kill-good-government-20130607): > I like government. I don’t like what the fallout from these past few weeks might do to the public’s faith in it… > > > The core argument of President Obama’s rise to power, and a uniting belief of his coalition of young, minority and well-educated voters, is that government can do good things–and do them well. > > > Damn. Look at what cliches the past few weeks wrought. Fournier then runs through how the various Obama scandals show: > **Government is intrusive … Orwellian … incompetent … corrupt … complicated … heartless … secretive … \[and\] can’t be trusted.** And that’s when *the good guys* are running the show! Maybe Fournier needs to brush up on his [*Common Sense*](http://www.ushistory.org/paine/commonsense/singlehtml.htm): > Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil… Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence… For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Translation: there’s no such thing as “good government.” ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).