If national government did not exist, it would have to be invented. In the words of longtime Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, “Government is the name we give to the things we choose to do together.” Modern liberal government functions to improve people’s lives: providing public goods, and regulating in order to achieve collective and individual improvement. The public choice critique of government views government as an instrument of redistribution – redistributing from the weak to the powerful. Although this critique has power, it is not a complete critique. Rather, all governments contain facets that promote efficiency, and thus welfare, and facets that promote redistribution. Terry Moe observes as follows: