Political Epistemology vs. Government Said to be Limited

It would appear, though there are other possible contenders, that the curious invention of the term “limited government” represents the possibly greatest political oxymoron ever manufactured in the entire historical discourse of political philosophy or political science; and, political epistemology is surely involved. 

Realistically, it is of the very nature of government to expand, so how can the questionable notion arise that it can be really limited?   Most likely, it is an expression of an ideal or aspiration that inclines toward the grand hope that whatever political order exists may resist the tendency, held here to be natural to an instrumentality of power, to grow and grow until it may reach the practical limits of its greatest extension of power — unless, perhaps, resisted by a countervailing power.

Origins of the Term

Obviously, what is referred to as classical Liberalism had originally developed the odd notion of limited government, as in the saying that the government which governs least governs best; this kind of phrase has been, e. g., attributed to Thomas Jefferson, though, in fact, he never said something that simplistic.  Some words that he wrote may seem fairly close, however, to the basic sentiment that is then generally expressed as such. 

Today, and for about a century or so, those denominated as conservatives, in this country, have usually adopted support for the idea of limited or circumscribed government that stays basically, for instance, within the limits of the US Constitution; this is, therefore, as to its then original epistemological understanding as a political charter of restricted government.

However, as classical Liberalism had mutated, from the late 19th into the mid-20th century, into modern Liberalism qua Socialism (AKA collectivism), it became the case that Conservatism, in America, had functionally changed into what, mostly, used to be considered classical Liberalism.  Good related reading would cover such interesting books as James Kalb’s The Tyranny of Liberalism: Understanding and Overcoming Administered Freedom, Inquisitorial Tolerance, and Equality by Command.

Government, if it appropriately consists of true governance in noted terms of providing that needed balance between liberty and order for yielding an ordered liberty qua liberal order, is supposed to be a truly positive thing; thus, this means that, theoretically at least, the useful growth of government ought to be a really good occurrence because more government then equates, logically by definition, with the provision for a more ordered liberty, the rational and wise protection of civil social freedom, under law.