“Government is a necessary evil.”
So you believe that government is incapable of doing any good? I’d say that something must be at least partially good by virtue of being necessary. Food, water, and air are also necessary. I think it’s pretty good when I get enough of them, but they can also be pretty bad if there’s too much.
If you say government is always evil because it’s composed of people who are, by nature, evil, then what isn’t evil? The free market is evil. It’s composed of people who act selfishly, and we generally think selfishness is evil.
So I think the phrase, “government is a necessary evil” is just some pat saying we conservatives love to toss out there. It has an element of truth to it and it’s useful for characterizing our ideology, but it over simplifies the very complex relationship man has with government. Tell me, for example, government is evil when it prevents a hostile military from coming in and killing you and yours!
No, as I’ve said in each of my posts, government is necessary. But it is inevitably corrupting and corrupted. That was the premise to our country’s Constitution.
It is akin to fire, which when well controlled is very useful, but when out of control it is disastrous.