Tao Te Ching 75

When taxes are too high, people go hungry. When the government is too intrusive, people lose their spirit. Act for the people’s benefit. Trust them; leave them alone.
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This may be the ultimate challenge to government. People cannot buy food with money that is sent to the government. People cannot maintain their spirit if government intrudes into the aspects of life where their spirit arises and is nurtured and maintained.

The problem arises when people prove by their actions over a sustained period of time that they are not trustworthy in a way or in an area of life that hurts other people. The government often must intercede in those instances, while trying to avoid being too intrusive. Can government leave people alone if those people won’t leave other people alone? If one group of people presumes to act as a governing influence on another group of people, can government sit idly by and watch an abuse that is due to an oppressive imbalance of power?

Government must seek a delicate balance that is not easily struck – a balance between trusting people and helping people, between leaving them along and lifting them up.