Socialist Libertarianism

The old saying is, "The Government that governs best, is the one which governs least." Some take this as advocacy for Fiscal Conservatism. I see it as a call for Social Libertarianism. This quote was written by Henry David Thoreau is his Civil Disobedience where he complains about the oppressive nature of modern society, and the Governments interference within all aspects of life.
What this says to me is that government is here strictly to keep the country up and running. To keep the economy in check, make sure the nation is stable, and jobs are growing. The job of the government is not to set the moral values of the people, or try to sway their religious beliefs.

This only makes sense, the founding fathers advocated for loose restrictions on Civil Liberties, hence why they wrote the Bill of Rights, to protect those liberties. Instead, they focused more on the economy, and making sure that the country was able to thrive and prosper/ They funded schools, taxed the wealthy, and promoted their form of equality of opportunity.
From the conception of our nation until about the 1920's the federal government had never stepped into the field of playing with Civil Liberties. With the exception of the Alien and Sedition Act during the War of 1812, or Abraham Lincoln suspending Habius Corpus during the Civil War, but both of these could be justified since they were during war times. Still, in the 1920's the Federal Government prohibited the consumption of alcoholic beverages.
This was quickly removed and the nation returned back to normal. The precedent of not messing with civil liberties was official broken though. After the New Deal, which ensured millions of Americans returned to work during the Great Depression, the government realized it could help out the people itself. FDR signed in Social Security, Lyndon Johnson brought in The Great Society, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Then from their the Government took off with social policy, total prohibition of marijuana, Defense of Marriage Act 1996, Restrictions on Abortion, bans on Gay Marriage, all of these the government tried to step in and limit the liberties of the people. Since Lyndon Johnson, the only bills that impact equality of opportunity in a positive way were the No Child Left Behind, and The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Basically, since the 1960's the only progress we've made is that the religious right can step in and try to instill their moral and ethical values onto America.
The power of government lies not in a control of its people, it is to allow its people to live, be free to think, choose, grow and learn. The only true duty of government is to keep the country strong and prosperous. To give its people the resources needed to succeed. Free schooling, and universal healthcare, are two of the best examples. European Nations that adopted these policies has seen a dramatic rise in quality of life, and better life expectancy. Yet we lag behind here in America. Socialism is used as a dirty word, people are convinced our president is a Communist, but they don't even know what a proper liberal actually is. The real problem with America is we want hands off economics, hands off social policy, small government, and low taxes. Well we had that, it was called the Articles of Confederation and it failed horribly.
Socialism, with open civil liberties is what government should really be promoting. This gives people the ability to do what they want and be free, while also having the opportunity to get educated, and become something regardless of if you are the lowest 20%, or the top 1%.
In closing, to anyone who talks down on Socialism, go to a Socialist country and ask people there what they think of it, because the American Politicians who talk bad about it have no clue what real Socialism is and are blatantly misinforming the public about the ideology.
Thank you for reading, feel free to discuss the ideas outlined in this essay.