I think government has a major role to play in helping us with the pursuit of happiness.

Taken at face value, the remark frames government not merely as a referee that protects rights, but as an active partner in creating the conditions under which individuals can flourish. By invoking the American civic ideal of the “pursuit of happiness,” it suggests that public policy—through education, public safety, infrastructure, health, or economic opportunity—can expand real freedom by widening people’s practical options. Coming from William Weld, a politician often associated with fiscally conservative, socially moderate Republicanism, the line can be read as an attempt to reconcile limited-government instincts with a pragmatic acceptance that certain collective goods are difficult to secure through private action alone.