What Is The Government For?

[Rival]

In your opinion, what is the government's job?

 

[Cooky]

In your opinion, what is the government's job?

To enforce the will of the people.

 

[osgart]

To maintain order and civilty in society as per the will of the people.

 

[Rival]

The 'Will of the People' seems like a romanticised notion that ignores the reality of their being no unified people's will. What this phrase seems to mean in practice is 'the will of a small majority'.

Is it the Government's job to preside over marriage?

The economy?

Private businesses, if there are any?

Health?

 

[Brickjectivity]

Its a protection racket. Usually good government provides stability, so that people can trade and grow their children in relative happiness. Bad government causes a lot of confusion, makes people feel uncertain, seizes property, tricks people into working for nothing, has random inexplicable taxation. A good government has clearly written laws, so you don't have to guess at what the proper course of action is. It provides peace, so you can plan and try to get things done. This gets undermined if its hard to interpret what the laws mean -- such as if even a lawyer can't tell you which actions are best. It gets undermined, too, if there is no way to predict whether your actions will lead to punishment. A good government makes it clear that the easiest way to live is to obey the laws, to not test the boundaries; and it makes people happy when they do that. A good government prevents wars, prevents attacks, provides a continuum in which people don't worry constantly.

 

[Thief]

there are four basic forms of motivation for Man

assuming Hierarchy.....
someone will stand to a pulpit and try to convince you.....
God wants you to.....(whatever)

then politics....someone will stand to a podium and try to convince you
I have a plan
I have a dream
and I am not a crook

then the military
someone will gain control of a militia
and point guns at people

last but not least....the economy
there's money in it for me....the boss
there's a paycheck for you
and the timeclock is over there


which persuasion is yours?

 

[icehorse]

Well "good" government coordinates the BIG projects that the people want. (In other words, those projects that are inefficient to do individually.)

I would say that infrastructure, education, defense, policing, a stable economic system and yes, healthcare, all fit in this definition.

 

[anna.]

In your opinion, what is the government's job?

To provide for the common good.

 

[Quintessence]

Administrators of a group are supposed to tackle large projects that benefit those who fall under the auspices of their respective groups. This means securing funding and resources as needed to undertake such projects, developing the plans for their usage, and seeing to the implementation of said plans to completion. The process is iterative and revised as needed to reach desired goals. Whether or not the administrators set the goals themselves or do so based on polling of the groups impacted by their activities depends on the style of the administration.

Government is basically a type of administration, so it falls under the above.

 

[Rival]

To provide for the common good.

What is that?

 

[anna.]

What is that?

Common good - Wikipedia

 

[Rival]

Common good - Wikipedia

'The term "common good" has been used in many disparate ways and escapes a single definition.'

Is the 'common good' universal healthcare? Free education? Or is it the right to no government interference? Is it the right to education at all? Or is it common good to let people decide? Free water fountains? Lower taxes?

 

[Quintessence]

What I find ironic about the concept of "common good" is that it isn't. Most members of any community are not human, but they are almost never considered in the "common good." Hence, we have global ecological genocide and a sixth mass extinction event caused by humans.

"Common good" is this always contextual. It only ever references the needs of some select group.

 

[Revoltingest]

In your opinion, what is the government's job?

To crush the populace, to drive them to produce, & to stifle their lamentations.

 

[anna.]

'The term "common good" has been used in many disparate ways and escapes a single definition.'

Is the 'common good' universal healthcare? Free education? Or is it the right to no government interference? Is it the right to education at all? Or is it common good to let people decide? Free water fountains? Lower taxes?

You only got past the first sentence? : )

According to substantive conceptions, the common good is that which is shared by and beneficial to all or most members of a given community: particular substantive conceptions will specify precisely what factors or values are beneficial and shared. . . . John Locke declared that "the peace, safety, and public good of the people" are the ends of political society . . . Though these thinkers differed significantly in their views of what the common good consists in, as well as over what the state should do to promote it, they nonetheless agreed that the common good is the end of government, that it is a good of all the citizens, and that no government should become the "perverted servant of special interests,"[10] whether these special interests be understood as Aristotle's "interest of the rulers," Locke's "private good," Hume's and Madison's "interested factions," or Rousseau's "particular wills."[10]

Reading further, there are various theories, including the ones that I think inform U.S. and western society (I don't know where you live) which is a balance of the government seeing the common good as a "regulatory ideal" and the people seeing the common good as a collective choice. Perhaps this balance of the citizens voting and the government regulating is most purely illustrated by the very first words of the Constitution:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

 

[Willamena]

In your opinion, what is the government's job?

The job of a country's government is to protect the interests of the people within its borders, including safety, security, prosperity, and growth (think of the people like a flower: these are all the things a single life-form needs to survive).

 

[Rival]

You only got past the first sentence? : )

According to substantive conceptions, the common good is that which is shared by and beneficial to all or most members of a given community: particular substantive conceptions will specify precisely what factors or values are beneficial and shared. . . . John Locke declared that "the peace, safety, and public good of the people" are the ends of political society . . . Though these thinkers differed significantly in their views of what the common good consists in, as well as over what the state should do to promote it, they nonetheless agreed that the common good is the end of government, that it is a good of all the citizens, and that no government should become the "perverted servant of special interests,"[10] whether these special interests be understood as Aristotle's "interest of the rulers," Locke's "private good," Hume's and Madison's "interested factions," or Rousseau's "particular wills."[10]

Reading further, there are various theories, including the ones that I think inform U.S. and western society (I don't know where you live) which is a balance of the government seeing the common good as a "regulatory ideal" and the people seeing the common good as a collective choice. Perhaps this balance of the citizens voting and the government regulating is most purely illustrated by the very first words of the Constitution:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Being that there are many theories, which I did read, I pulled you up and wanted to know what you meant. It's clear that no-one agrees on one definition of this so what good is it just saying for the 'common good'? I am in the UK, but I'm not sure that matters. I think it's in the common good of the people to be religious; most of my fellows disagree. I think it would be in the common good to abolish meat-eating. Again, many disagree.

Also, the Constitution is very vague. What is 'justice'? What is 'general welfare'? US people certainly don't seem to think that means free healthcare, but they can carry guns. Justice according to whose moral theory? Kant? Mill? Singer? Justice for who? Abused animals? Foreigners?

People are rarely as uniform as this. If they were we wouldn't have 10s of political parties, none of which have huge support considering.

 

[Willamena]

Being that there are many theories, which I did read, I pulled you up and wanted to know what you meant. It's clear that no-one agrees on one definition of this so what good is it just saying for the 'common good'? I am in the UK, but I'm not sure that matters. I think it's in the common good of the people to be religious; most of my fellows disagree. I think it would be in the common good to abolish meat-eating. Again, many disagree.

Also, the Constitution is very vague. What is 'justice'? What is 'general welfare'? US people certainly don't seem to think that means free healthcare, but they can carry guns. Justice according to whose moral theory? Kant? Mill? Singer? Justice for who? Abused animals? Foreigners?

People are rarely as uniform as this. If they were we wouldn't have 10s of political parties, none of which have huge support considering.

"Common" refers to the people--the people, commonly. Common good isn't about what one person or group thinks is good for the group. It's about the bigger picture, what is good for the group, commonly. What is "good" is a variable, "X," that is supplied by the nature of the group. That anyone agrees on what is good doesn't matter. The good is objectively good based on principles, not fancies.

 

[Rival]

"Common" refers to the people--the people, commonly. Common good isn't about what one person or group thinks is good for the group. It's about the bigger picture, what is good for the group, commonly. What is "good" is a variable, "X," that is supplied by the nature of the group. That anyone agrees on what is good doesn't matter. The good is objectively good based on principles, not fancies.

But this is very limited. Food, water, &c. are objectively good, but society is far, far more than that. Someone has to decide these things. Is access to alcohol part of the common good? Marijuana? This is just such a vague principle.

 

[viole]

In your opinion, what is the government's job?

To govern, I suppose.

Ciao

- viole