| One thing I hear some libertarians say is that the goal of government is to maximize liberty. I think that misses the point. To me, the goal of government is to maximize justice. And I suspect by doing the latter you're necessarily doing the former. But it takes wisdom to know how to maximize either because of at least 3 reasons:
1) Duty (and what is just) is contingent upon circumstances to some extent,
2) The golden rule requires an appreciation for the diversity of human beings to be applied at the proper level of abstraction,
and
3) Certain wrong-relatings are better handled by non-State methods of deterrence than State action (e.g., child discipline).
When a State has to intervene, to maintain civil order, into more and more kinds of activity for which a healthier society would not need such intervention, such a state of affairs is indicative of a society that is solidified to a greater-than-inevitable state of vice.
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