"When we allow government to get too big, this is the kind of thing that gets harmed--our most fundamental rights, including our religious freedom - they get trampled," he said.
The senator said oversized government influence does accidental harm even when it seeks to act positively. "I sometimes explain it as when the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man steps on your house, it's not because the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man necessarily hates you or singled out you for an attack," said Lee.
"It's because he's huge. He's the size of Godzilla, and your house happens to be in the way."
The senator said that valuing the self-evident truths of the Declaration of Independence means respecting the freedom of individuals to live according to their beliefs and the dictates of the conscience, something constricted by a political culture which prioritizes the government's right to intervene.
"We assume that government has the first right to act, rather than have to justify their actions," explained Lee.
"If we reconnect with these founding documents, as my book helps people to do, I think culturally, we can get to the point where we can reclaim the rights and get back the kind of government that we need, that we want, that we deserve, and that will respect our religious and our other freedoms."
While government can be harmful when it detaches from a proper understanding of human dignity and freedom, White told CNA that there was a risk of viewing government as necessarily opposed to the common good and individual liberty.
"The Catholic Church-even long before there was such a thing as 'Catholic social teaching'-has always insisted that political authority has a natural and necessary role in ordering and governing human society for the common good," White said.
"Government exists to be a guarantor of precisely that space in which true human freedom-freedom in solidarity, freedom for the good-can flourish."
"Like all good things, government can be made to serve wicked ends. But government itself isn't an obstacle to a healthy human society; it's a necessary prerequisite of it."
Christine Rousselle is a former DC Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. Prior to working at CNA, she was the managing web editor of Townhall.com; she has a BA in political science from Providence College.