Every time the government grows we lose more of who we are.

The line expresses a core small-government, libertarian-leaning conservative anxiety: that expanding state power does not merely add programs or regulations, but gradually reshapes citizens’ character and civic identity. “Who we are” frames the issue as cultural and moral as much as political—suggesting that self-reliance, local/community responsibility, and individual liberty erode as government assumes more functions. The phrasing also implies a ratchet effect (“every time”), where each incremental expansion produces cumulative loss. In Beck’s rhetorical style, the claim works as a warning about unintended consequences: even well-intentioned growth can diminish autonomy and the sense of a distinct national ethos grounded in limited government.