Enemy of the State

Why the Best Government is the Least Amount of Government

by Lee Edward Enochs
Executive Director
 Princeton Conservative Club

Recently I started the Princeton Conservative Club a society for like-minded conservatives for the purpose of fellowship, discuss, debate and changing our world through the promotion of conservative economic and political values. I figure if I am really going to be here in the Princeton community, I must contribute the best way I can by organizing a club for like minded people, because that is what I do.

I have a confession to make; I am an enemy of the State. Now, don’t get me wrong I love America and believe in our form of constitutional government. But I believe, without reservation, that we, the people of the United States of America, have become far too dependent on the State to meet our basic needs.

I am an “enemy of the State” in the respect that I reject the socialistic mentality now in vogue in contemporary American society that says the federal government knows best how we should live our lives and spend our money.

I am a vocal “small government” proponent of the “minimal state” concept of government in political philosophy that essentially argues that the State’s only legitimate function is the protection from various kinds of assault, theft, breach of contract and fraud.

I believe the only legitimate institutions of the federal government are the judicial branch to adjudicate the law, law enforcement to enforce these laws within the boundaries of our State, and the military to protect us from threats from the outside.

In a broader sense, I also believe in the legitimacy of the existence and function of various civil service departments such as paramedics, fire departments and prisons. Other than this, I believe in limiting federal agencies and reducing the means by which the State is involved in our daily lives.

I believe “the leviathan” that is the current American federal government is far too big, far too intrusive and is grossly out of control. I am an advocate of introducing an amendment to the US Constitution that forces the federal government to reduce all debt and eliminate the national deficit. 

I believe the best government is the least amount of government. I believe in absolute libertarian freedom and that we as humans function best by determining our own economic well-being without the long arm of the State being involved in every aspect of our lives.

I believe in self-determinism, that we are the masters of our own economic and political destiny. I want to live free from government intrusion in my personal, private, sexual, economic and political life and believe I, not the State, knows best how to live and manage my life. I do not look to the federal government to solve my problems and neither should you.

Each and every time we look to the State to meet our needs, we give and equal amount of our freedom and self-determinism away and allow the federal government to stick its hands in things it has no business being in in the first place.

We are the masters of our own destiny and the captains of our own fates and with the help of God; we can limit the power of the State by working hard towards our own prosperity and self-sufficiency.

I believe in the political philosophy known as “Libertarianism” that argues that liberty and self-determinism should be our primary existential objectives. I want to see us maximize our autonomy, freedom of choice and I advocate the role of our individual freedom in all matters.

I believe dependency on the State to meet our basics needs is a form of slavery.

I want to live free or die hard.

In this respect, I am an “Enemy of the State.”