Talk to any true believer on the right for five minutes, and you're likely going to hear about the virtues of limited government.
Well, not really. You're likely to hear about high taxes and regulations being bad for the economy, and you're going to hear that low taxes and limited government are good, but you're probably not going to hear why. After all, they've already accepted limited government as the solution.
So just who is limited government good for?
The poor? Well, that one's obvious. Poor people would be in terrible shape. Under the idea of limited government, they wouldn't have any sort of safety net. If they lost their job, they would probably starve to death since they wouldn't have food. And even if they did have a job, they might not be able to survive anyway. Without a minimum wage, their employers could pay them basically whatever they felt like. And also, they'd be subjected to whatever working conditions their employer deemed acceptable without an OSHA around to enforce safety regulations. Of course, safety regulations would be nonexistent anyway. Their kids would be poorly educated without public schools. And their neighborhoods would be utterly unlivable with no police protection.
But all of those things I just listed? Yeah, they affect the middle class as well. Sure, the middle class would pay lower taxes. That seems to be all they care about; remember, since Reagan came along, Republicans have convinced them they can pay lower taxes and still keep the same level of service. Thanks, deficits!
But those lower taxes would be offset in a lot of ways. With public schools defunded, they'd probably have to send their kids to private school. Have you looked up private school tuition lately? Either that or they'd have to home school their children. That would require one of them to drop out of the workforce in all likelihood, thus reducing their standard of living. With Social Security gone, they'd have to take care of their elderly parents. And again, with no safety net, like the poor they're screwed if they lose their job.
What about the wealthy? Oh, they love limited government and hate taxes. Of course, with limited government taking food stamps away from the poor and making them starving and desperate, they'll probably try to rob the rich. The rich can always call the police... Oh, wait, there are no police? No firefighters for when the poor burn down their houses, either.
And bug business? Most of them need to transport products from time to time, and without government around to pave roads and maintain railroad tracks, you can expect that proposition to become a whole lot more dicey.
So just who is limited government good for?
Conservative politicians.
And... That's about it.
Yet conservatives, especially the Tea Party, continue to push limited government as the answer to all of our problems. Perhaps they don't realize that limited government is good for exactly nobody. They don't really want to live in a country with limited government. They just think they do.
And they must be stopped before they get their way and turn the United States into a third world country.