What’s Government Good For?

The other day, I read a very fascinating article at Findlaw by Neil Buchanan on the relationship of the market to the existence of the government. Without telling too much, he asserts that we should stop thinking we own anything and therefore stop complaining about the government taking too much of “our” money, since without courts and a law to punish theft, it’s not ours in the first place. Since some of his point has merit and some does not, I actually thought it would be worthwhile to talk about the ideas and see if we can’t figure out what government is actually good for and what it’s not good for. Tall order, I know. But remember, I’m still a naïve optimist.