The government is funded through taxation which involves the use of force. As such, if the government should attempt to become philanthropic, it can do so only by forcibly taking property from some in order to give to others. Over time, as the reform movement gained acceptance in the United States, the government drifted further and further away from its original moorings. This occurred because unprincipled individuals sought political power for selfish ends and because misguided individuals pursued well-meaning but destructive governmental programs. To further complicate matters, the U.S. government has never fully protected the life, liberty, and property of all citizens.
Slavery is an example of our government's failure to protect the liberty of all people.
Or, for a later example, consider segregation laws which undermined the liberty of people to associate freely with one another. In all such cases of injustice there is pressure in society for a remedy. The logical solution is to simply eliminate the law creating the injustice. The complicating feature occurs when those who have suffered under an unjust law seek to use the law for their own unjust purposes. French economist Frederic Bastiat provided a chillingly accurate statement of what happens in society when this occurs.