What should be the primary purpose of a government?

Marigold23

I'd like to think that whatever political "camp" or party a person falls into is eventually determined by one's answer to this question. Is government meant simply to execute the majority will of the populace? Or, should a governments obedience to the will of the populace be considered separate to and either more or less important than a governments obedience to an established goal for the populace? For instance, no one would question that people can make terrible mistakes in judgement... we might suppose that even a majority of a population could make a joint error in judgement, perhaps even a fatal error. Should a government be responsible for the sustainability of the population, even in contradiction to that population's judgement if the two should ever become exclusively opposed to one another?

The purpose of any government is expressed in what function(s) it executes... so to answer this question, one may respond with what function(s) they think a government should execute: Should it be: "whatever function it is asked to carry out by the majority of citizens"... or, alternatively: "Whatever function best expresses the nature/desire of it's citizens (such as survival and prosperity).

View Answer

alan1000

Marigold23, your question is expressed in such general terms that it is impossible to answer in less than 5000 words. The answer depends upon the nature and circumstances of your hypothetical state.

What is the average standard of education? Population density? Natural resources? How big an area does it cover? Does it exist in a 'cockpit' area, like Belgium or Palestine? What are its relations with its neighbours? What are its previous traditions of government? Are there internal ethnic tensions?

T Clark

What should be the primary purpose of a government? — Marigold23

Easy peasy:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

I've quoted the Declaration of Independence twice today and Randy Newman once. Who says I'm not erudate, eridute... smart.

TheMadFool

↪Marigold23

A government, as far as I can tell, is supposed to run the country; a country is nothing without its people, from infants to senior citizens; people have needs and wants that need to be fulfilled; to fulfill the needs and wants of the people, a good plan needs to be formulated, implemented, monitored until the goals set out in the plan are achieved; we need a good team of intelligent and dedicated people to do that and that team is what a government is. To cut to the chase, a government is simply a body of people whose raison d'etre is to take the country in the right direction and, I almost forgot, foreign relations may play a huge role in internal affairs. Too, a government must also participate in world affairs with the aim of contributing to global peace and prosperity ( :grin: ). That's how it's supposed to be any way. Reality tells a different story.

dimosthenis9

Tramsofrm people's mindset to Logic!! With its actions to push people think logically and make them understand that this is a total selfish thing to do for their own profit at the end! To fight hyprocrisis

T Clark

Tramsofrm people's mindset to Logic!! With its actions to push people think logically and make them understand that this is a total selfish thing to do for their own profit at the end! To fight hyprocrisis — dimosthenis9

As the captain of the Titanic, the engineers at Fukushima, and Karl Marx all said "What could possibly go wrong?"

Echarmion

Is government meant simply to execute the majority will of the populace? Or, should a governments obedience to the will of the populace be considered separate to and either more or less important than a governments obedience to an established goal for the populace? — Marigold23

Government is meant to execute the will of all members of the population. Because there wills will never overlap completely, it should find compromises that are acceptable to everyone. Where such are not possible, it should weigh the unrecomcilable views based on a common moral framework.

The majority election is to select the best individuals for the job of making these decisions, and to keep then accountable.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed... — T Clark

It's interesting that property is not listed, and yet at the time the document was written, property was secured by governments even where it meant that the other inalienable rights were alienated.

To this day your rights to life, liberty and especially the pursuit of happiness are sharply circumscribed by the state's protection of property.

T Clark

It's interesting that property is not listed, and yet at the time the document was written, property was secured by governments even where it meant that the other inalienable rights were alienated. — Echarmion

The US's Declaration of Independence was a statement of general principle. A few years later, the US Constitution came along and provided a more specific, legally binding list. Among those is a right to protect against deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

To this day your rights to life, liberty and especially the pursuit of happiness are sharply circumscribed by the state's protection of property. — Echarmion

A good case can be made that the pursuit of happiness is not possible without protection of property.

NOS4A2

↪Marigold23

A governments role should be to secure the rights and freedoms of its citizens, but more often it secures its own interests and monopoly on power.

Judaka

↪Echarmion

The government can't execute the will of the population, because the population has no idea how to govern a nation. The main purpose of the government is to govern. Governing requires institutions, to perform the basic functions that we take for granted, could list some but everyone should know at least some. People have no idea what is or isn't possible for the government to do, it is really the government that does the most to keep the government in check. Even the election itself in a democracy only exists because of the strong governmental institutions which ensure it happens and happens fairly. Democracy gives people some - very limited ability, to determine what the government does but it's not much.

Echarmion

The US's Declaration of Independence was a statement of general principle. — T Clark

Sure. It's just interesting that the principles that it specifically enumerated did not include something so central to the US (not just the US of course) and it's history.

A good case can be made that the pursuit of happiness is not possible without protection of property. — T Clark

Yes, I'd agree. What's interesting though is that while the document may suggest that the goal is the pursuit of happiness, and one of the means is the protection of private property, the actual reality was rather the opposite.

TonesInDeepFreeze

Since the U.S. Constitution has been mentioned, it helps to mention what it says:

"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"

Echarmion

The government can't execute the will of the population, because the population has no idea how to govern a nation. The main purpose of the government is to govern. Governing requires institutions, to perform the basic functions that we take for granted, could list some but everyone should know at least some. People have no idea what is or isn't possible for the government to do, it is really the government that does the most to keep the government in check. Even the election itself in a democracy only exists because of the strong governmental institutions which ensure it happens and happens fairly. Democracy gives people some - very limited ability, to determine what the government does but it's not much. — Judaka

All quite true. Institutions are really at the core of democracy, and not necessarily just those we usually associate with politics. Lots of agreements and rituals one does not usually think about are required for a democracy to function.

I didn't mean "will" here to refer to some specific policy decision, much less the technical details of it's implications. I was referring to something closer to "interest", but since interest is a rather nebulous concept itself I decided to default to individual will. One might perhaps say "goal" here, too. To use a metaphor, I think the government should imagine themselves in everyone's shoes at the same time, and then identify those paths that everyone disagrees with the least.

Apollodorus

The purpose of any government is expressed in what function(s) it executes... so to answer this question, one may respond with what function(s) they think a government should execute: Should it be: "whatever function it is asked to carry out by the majority of citizens"... or, alternatively: "Whatever function best expresses the nature/desire of it's citizens (such as survival and prosperity). — Marigold23

IMO it should be a bit of both. Government should function in accordance with (1) the will and (2) the best interests of the people.

What should be the primary purpose of a government?

Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!

Categories

More Discussions