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Full Idea
Government power should be restricted because things are often done better by individuals.
Gist of Idea
Individuals often do things better than governments
Source
John Stuart Mill (On Liberty [1857], Ch.5)
Book Ref
Mill,John Stuart: 'Utilitarianism (including On Liberty etc)', ed/tr. Warnock,Mary [Fontana 1962], p.243
A Reaction
This contains some truth, but it is obvious that innumerable things can be done better by governments, and also (and more importantly) that innumerable other good things might be done by governments which individuals can't be bothered to do.
| 6329 | People are hard to govern because authorities love to do things [Laozi (Lao Tzu)] |
| 19980 | If a government is to be preserved, it must first be loved [Montesquieu] |
| 19996 | A government has a legislature, an international executive, and a domestic executive [Montesquieu] |
| 3927 | Society prefers helpful lies to harmful truth [Hume] |
| 19820 | The state has a legislature and an executive, just like the will and physical power in a person [Rousseau] |
| 19827 | Law makers and law implementers should be separate [Rousseau] |
| 7228 | Individuals often do things better than governments [Mill] |
| 20254 | People govern for the pleasure of it, or just to avoid being governed [Nietzsche] |
| 20939 | What is the function of a parliament? Does it even constitute a part of the State structure? [Gramsci] |
| 22236 | The big question of the Renaissance was how to govern everything, from the state to children [Foucault] |
| 20506 | 'Separation of powers' allows legislative, executive and judicial functions to monitor one another [Wolff,J] |