When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the

"When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads." — Ron Paul

In this fierce and unflinching truth, Ron Paul, the physician turned statesman, speaks not with the cold precision of policy but with the fire of moral warning. His words strike like a bell of conscience, echoing through the halls of power and into the hearts of men who would barter their freedom for favor. To “get in bed with government,” he says, is to embrace the illusion of security while inviting corruption of the soul. The metaphor is bold and raw — for he would have us see that intimacy with power is never pure; it breeds dependence, deceit, and decay.

Ron Paul’s insight was forged in the crucible of the late twentieth century, when the union between business and government grew thick with privilege and manipulation. He saw how the state, clothed in promises of prosperity and protection, enticed private interests to lie beside it — offering subsidies, contracts, and influence in exchange for loyalty. Yet every such union came with a price. When freedom lies down with coercion, it wakes to find its virtue gone. When enterprise joins hands with authority, it forgets the discipline of the market and learns instead the corruption of politics. Thus are born the diseases of power — arrogance, greed, and the slow death of responsibility.

This warning is not new. It is the echo of ancient wisdom. The Greeks knew it when they spoke of hubris — the arrogance that comes before ruin. The Romans learned it bitterly, as the republic rotted from within, its senators fattened by imperial favor, its merchants enriched by the spoils of conquest. When Caesar crossed the Rubicon, it was not only the army that marched — it was the soul of Rome surrendering to the temptations of control. The merchants who had once thrived under liberty now bowed before the emperor’s gold, and the people, once fierce in independence, became content to trade freedom for bread and spectacle.

Consider too the story of the East India Company, that grand alliance of commerce and crown. In its early days, it was the child of enterprise, sailing boldly into distant seas. But when it joined itself to the power of the British state, it gained not glory, but corruption. Its monopoly, sustained by royal decree and enforced by armies, brought ruin to millions in India and disgrace to England herself. What began as trade became tyranny; what began as partnership became plague. This is the very sickness Ron Paul warns against — the contagion that spreads when men unite profit with power and call the union “progress.”

For government, by its nature, carries within it the germs of coercion. It can defend liberty, yes, but it can also destroy it. When men of business, science, or art seek favor from the state — when they climb into its bed to share its influence — they take on its vices. They learn to bend truth to policy, to trade merit for privilege, to confuse justice with law. The purity of their purpose fades, and soon they serve not the people, nor the craft, nor the truth, but the hand that feeds them. Thus does the disease spread — silently, sweetly, under the illusion of partnership.

But Ron Paul’s teaching is not one of despair. It is a call to purity and independence. He does not curse government in its proper place — for it has its uses, as a wall has its strength — but he warns that it must never become a partner in private ambition. The farmer must plant his crop with his own hands; the merchant must earn his wealth by his own wit. To seek favor from the throne is to forget the dignity of one’s labor. To depend on the state’s blessing is to forget the blessing of freedom itself.

O listener, take these words as counsel for your own age. The diseases of power are subtle and slow, creeping not only through nations but through hearts. Guard your integrity as you would guard your life. Let no authority seduce you with comfort bought by obedience. In your work, seek excellence, not exemption; in your community, seek service, not control. For every alliance with coercion weakens the spirit of liberty, while every act of independence strengthens it.

Lesson: Power corrupts not only those who wield it, but also those who cling to it for gain. To lie with government is to share its corruption; to stand apart is to preserve one’s virtue.

Practical Action: Refuse to seek privilege through power. Build your life and labor on the foundation of honesty, responsibility, and voluntary exchange. Support leaders who cherish liberty over control, and never forget that freedom, once surrendered for convenience, is a disease that no cure can easily heal.