What Should Government Do?

Everyone has an answer to this seemingly simple question.  But what is the right answer?  Think about this: when we first became a nation, our first national government was organized under a plan called The Articles of Confederation.  Under the A of C, the national government was VERY limited.  So much so that it could not effectively govern.  During a meeting in Philadelphia which was called to revise the A of C, it was decided among the delegates that the A of C were way too weak, and a new system to govern this nation had to be created.  As a result, the Constitution of the United States was created.
Let's put this in terms easy to comprehend.  Consider the size and power of the government under the A of C - we'll represent that plan with a Smart Car.

Small, basic transportation that gets you from point a to point b with very little power, and that's about it.
Now consider the size and power of the national government today.  We'll represent the government today with its enormous reach, power and intrusiveness into our lives with a monster truck.

Huge, unwieldy and able to crush about anything else on the road.  Wasteful with gas (taxes), harder and more expensive to maintain, and not good at anything other than dominating by force.
From the Smart Car to the monster truck.  Is this really what our founding fathers envisioned for our country's government?  I think not.  Keeping the car analogy, it would be represented by this car, the Ford Fiesta - basic transportation with enough power and space to get most jobs done.

Our national government should do very few things, do them well, and leave the rest to the states -   just as our founders envisioned.  For a more detailed plan supporting this argument, go read the Constitution of the United States.