Is government ever justified in involving itself in the private lives and personal decisions of its citizens? Why of why not?

Yes, the government is always justified when immersing itself in the lives of its citizens, as the benefits of this practice will always outweigh its consequences. This question had a very definite answer when great men like George Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, etc. found our great nation of America: no. Back then, it was very obvious that government should not spy on its own citizens and make decisions for them. This was actually the philosophy that the nation was based off, the Americans were tired of the British government controlling their lives, so they broke free and found the United States of America. But in today’s technologically advancing information age, the question is severely complicated with inventions like the Global Positions System, the World Wide Web, computer chips, the cellular telephone, etc. Of course, there are laws to regulate surveillance on these devices, but the invention of new technologies is passing these laws. As complicated as the question gets, I believe that the government is justified to immerse itself into the private lives and decisions of its citizens for a multitude of reasons. First, government surveillance practices can save lives, put criminals behind bars, or even find missing people, which definitely warrants the need for cellular surveillance. Another example of this justification is that measures like pat downs, body scanners, luggage scanners, and security guards at airports may be inconvenient for the passengers seeking to get on the plane, but will greatly increase the preservation of live on commercial aircraft. The last example to support this argument is in Ender’s Game. Ender had finally realized that the administrators and staff at Battle School controlled everything in his life while he was there. This pushed him to be better than ever (as seen in later in the text) and eventually defeat the Buggers. All in all, the government should have access to citizens’ lives and decisions