What Is a Limited Government?
A limited government is one whose legalized force and power is restricted through delegated and enumerated authorities. Countries with limited governments have fewer laws about what individuals and businesses can and cannot do. In many cases, such as the United States, it is a constitutionally limited government, bound to specific principles and actions by a state or federal constitution.
Why consent of the governed matters?
As Brennan emphasizes, the nonconsensual nature of most government power does not prove that government is necessarily illegitimate, or that democracy has no benefits. Government power might often be justified on consequential grounds, such as its ability to increase social welfare, provide public goods, or curb injustice. Sometimes, those benefits will be great enough to outweigh the harm caused by exercising power without consent. And democracy still has a variety of advantages over dictatorship or oligarchy. Among other things, those types of regimes are usually even less consensual than democracy is.
