# Building a Better Government **URL:** **By** Richard A. Epstein, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus **Published:** December 4, 2015 --- Richard A. Epstein joins us to discuss the core principles of classical liberalism. Is there a way to build a government that remains limited? If you started from scratch and wanted to build a government that preserved the free choices of its citizens as much as possible, and used force only in circumstances where it provided net benefits to all concerned parties, how would you do it? How long would its powers remain limited? Richard A. Epstein joins us this week to discuss classical liberal statecraft, state cartels vs. private monopolies, inequality, and more. **Show Notes and Further Reading** We highly recommend reading all of Epstein's books; start with _[Simple Rules for a Complex World](http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Rules-Complex-Richard-Epstein/dp/0674808215/),_ [_Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain_](http://www.amazon.com/Takings-Private-Property-Eminent-Domain/dp/0674867297/) , and [_The Classical Liberal Constitution: The Uncertain Quest for Limited Government_](http://www.amazon.com/Classical-Liberal-Constitution-Uncertain-Government/dp/0674724895/) . Here's [a video lecture Libertarianism.org produced on _Simple Rules for a Complex World_](https://www.libertarianism.org/videos/simple-rules-complex-world) .