BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Philosophy The Nature of Government

What do you think is the fundamental value(s) of a government? Is it safety? Perhaps stability? What would have happened in a society without government regulations? Or perhaps on the other hand, over-regulation such as in a dictatorship. How can we ensure that our government stay in the reasonable middle ground?

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Anyone?

Wow, Cara, I wouldn't even know where to start! I think safety is an issue for sure. I do believe that our government, overall functions pretty well. If we could just remove the "greed" factor, and could be assured that our representatives were looking out for our highest good, I think we'd have a pretty good thing going here

Hi Deanna,

Yes, safety is definitely is a major concern. When citizens don't feel safe, it's hard for any country to function effectively as we all know about the crazy things people do when they are frightened.

Without a healthy government, I think our existence will be pretty chaotic and dangerous as we are seeing in the militia driven countries in other parts of the world.

Cara, thank you for the invitation to this conversation. Let me start by saying I am not an expert in Political Science. However, I do have an MA degree to teach social studies.

To begin with lets start with some basic concepts I believe most all of us can agree on.

1. Without Government there would be anarchy and chaos.
2. There has never been, and probably never will be, a perfect system of government. Remember what Winston Churchill said �It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.�

Using these ideas as a basis we can begin a discussion of What SHOULD Be the Purpose of government in this era of our history?

Hi Craig58,

Thank you for coming to the discussion. I think you are humble in describing your qualifications as I truly enjoy your other intelligent posts on BellaOnline. They made me think!

I agree with both 1 & 2 that there is a need for a government, and achieving perfection in a political system is merely impossible.

For me, the purpose of government should be providing its citizens security and economic stability if not growth. Without these two factors firmly established in a country, the nation cannot move forward.

What a great quote! Yes, democracy is not perfect, but would we prefer the alternative?

Ok, Cara let me think this through now that the foundation of the conversation is set.

I believe the Purpose of Government is to...

1. Protect the Citizens of the nation.
This means Miltiary Defense, Law Enforcement, Protections like those provided to us by the FDA, EPA, Center for Disease Control, just to name a few. Protection from physcial threat to the health and safety of the citizens.

2. Provide Equal Justice under the Law, or as equal as is fesiably possible.

3. Provide the Services necessary for the society to function. These include services like providing Water treatment, Waste removal, maintenance of roads, bridges and other infrastructure, fire protection, police, EMS and much more. These are mostly the responibility of State and Local government more than the federal government.

4. Provide for the continuous Education of the citizenry.
Government must educate not only its youth, but should continually invest in the education of all citizens. Education does not stop after high school or even college. Education is a lifelong process. We might do much better as a nation to invest in the education of our citizens from birth to death, or at least retirement. There is so much we could do as nation if we made lifelong education a national priority. We have so much potential as Americans, but so rarely do we tap into our full potential.

5. Provide Equal Human and Civics Rights to ALL Citizens, NO Exceptions or Preconditions. If you are a U.S. Citizen you have these rights no matter who you are, what your heritage is or what you believe in.

6. Provide Equal Access to Opportunities for Education, Employment, Healthcare, Home Ownership and more. Equal Opportunity to all these things and more should be a nation right of citizenship.

7. Long Term Investments in the future. Government should engage in long-term planning and investment in the future. An example would be having a 10 year investment to rebuild schools that are more than 40 years old or a 10 year plan to repair and replace all the bridges in the country. As it is everything in government is budgeted in 1 to 2 year cycles, because all the members of the House of Representatives is up for reelection every two years. So, everything is done in two year cycles or less. Unfortunately, many of the problems we face need long-term planning and investment of 5, 10 or 20 years. People make long-term investments when they buy a car or a house. May things we need government to do requires the same type of long-term investment like buying a house.

These are my initial thoughts. I will probably think of others.

Wow!!! That was an amazing post. You truly make me humble.

Let me think through this one before I respond to your list...