those in charge of safeguarding individual rights—the government—were derelict in their duties. They realized that to take and hold power, they had to make promises and offer “services.” Services that, by the way, they weren’t paying for—you were. This led to massive increases in spending. As the government spent, given that government doesn’t produce anything of intrinsic value, there were only so many ways to pay for that spending. Of course, one source of financing government spending is taxation—the taking of a portion of your productivity and wealth.
