In fact this is not true. The lying and cheating that goes on outside of government has as great or greater effects on the well being of an ordinary citizen. Ordinary economic activity, if unchecked by government, favors the success of lying and cheating, leads to monopolies and knowingly and even intentionally disruptive speculation.
A decrease in the lying and cheating capacity of government leads to increasing capacity to lie and cheat in economic life.
To see this requires looking at how things work in practice. This involves paying special attention to the subject of economics and its influence on politics. But modern democratic life imposes ever greater social and professional specialization. The specialist does not want to use his free time to involve himself in another specialty, social or professional, considering the subject outside his field of expertise and interest.
It seems obvious that if you take a dangerous weapon away from a potential adversary you will be safer. The power of government can be used to enslave its people. That the potential adversary might also be a necessary ally is not obvious at all, since the other enemy is not an established institution enforcing written laws, but an economic and social result of countless individuals seeking their own interests over a period of time.
People think they are protecting their private lives by limiting intrusions on it by the government, but in reality they are allowing the economic foundations of their private lives to be undermined.
