"That government is best which governs least"

An american author named Henry David Thoreau once said "that government is best which governs least". This quote is very powerful and it holds a great amount of truth. My individual description of what he meant is, that the government who lets their civilians make their own decisions and stays out of the majority of affairs will be more succesful than the one who tries to control every aspect of their lives. I agree with Thoreau, but only to an extent. We as civilians should be allowed to have our freedom and make our own decisions, but sometimes we can abuse that freedon and that is when i believe that the government should be permitted to be restrictive.