I don't agree that the government exists to social engineer society.
Politics is the allocation of scarce resources; so by definition it exhibits preferences in those allocations, whether the whim of a tyrant, an iron law of utility, or a social contract.
Guns versus butter is the toy example from macroeconomics 101, but absolutely government is the net sum of its opportunity costs.
That's literally the definition of freedom.
The government exists to provide a safe framework to protect property and to provide for the common defense for people to live free and make thier own choices.