The Duty of Government

[DaShi]

heh, heh, duty.

What are the limits of government responsibility? Do they just need to do enough to prevent a revolt (basically to act in such a way to preserve themselves)? Or should governments work to better the lives of the majority of their citizens beyond simple pacification, within reason of course? Or other?

[Barnabas]

I think the state should take care of :
-Free and universal education
-Free and universal healthcare
-Army, firefighters, police
-railways, subways (highways can be private and work fine)
-energy generation, oil exploration etc

And leave the rest to the market.

I also believe there should be anti-monopoly laws

Basically, the state should make capitalistic competition fair, by allowing the sons of poor people to get a good education, and if they are smart enough, a title, and get rich, capitalism is the best we have, but the state is there to make capitalism tolerable.
Otherwise, eventually the peasants will kill the rich people

[Wiglaf]

Very general question. I recommend taking a political science course for some better answers than OMFG **** Bush which you'd probably find here..

[DaShi]

Should governments provide credit cards or just Wiglaf?

[Kuciwalker]

Barnabas: why oil exploration?

[Kuciwalker]

You think private railways can't work but private highways can?

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Barnabas
Basically, the state should make capitalistic competition fair, by allowing the sons of poor people to get a good education, and if they are smart enough, a title, and get rich, capitalism is the best we have, but the state is there to make capitalism tolerable.
Otherwise, eventually the peasants will kill the rich people

Sexist!

[Barnabas]

I was thinking of city railways, I think it is better in a city, for trains, subways, buses, trams etc to be integrated, and that only the state can do that well.


Railways to travel from one city to another one, or to transport cargo, I think could be private with no problem.

[GePap]

There is no inherent limit to government's duties, nor are there any actual inherent duties of "government."

What a government does or does not do is based on the power system that created the government in question, and what the rules think its duties are is absed on the ideads that give the system legitimacy.

[Admiral]

Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you.

[DaShi]

Originally posted by GePap
There is no inherent limit to government's duties, nor are there any actual inherent duties of "government."

What a government does or does not do is based on the power system that created the government in question, and what the rules think its duties are is absed on the ideads that give the system legitimacy.

But governments are created to serve certain needs of human society, hence inherent duties. The point of this thread is to discuss what these duties entail and whether governments should do more, hence the limits.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by GePap
There is no inherent limit to government's duties, nor are there any actual inherent duties of "government."

[Dis]

to provide for the safety of its citizens

[Slade Wilson]

The government has a duty to carry out the ideals laid out in its founding\mission documents. In the case of USA, that is the constitution etc. Thats what the-or atleast this one-government was created for.

Because in all cities these two distinct parties are found, and from this it arises that the people do not wish to be ruled nor oppressed by the nobles, and the nobles wish to rule and oppress the people; and from these two opposite desires there arises in cities one of three results, either a principality, self-government, or anarchy.

[GePap]

Originally posted by DaShi


But governments are created to serve certain needs of human society, hence inherent duties. The point of this thread is to discuss what these duties entail and whether governments should do more, hence the limits.

No they are not. they came into existance human groups grew larger and wealthier, leading to specialization of activities. Its exists to manage power relationships in groups that have moved beyond what might be termed the natural limit you see in say tribal societies.

The Enlightenment idea that individual humans came about and formed government is nonsense.

Now, once the idea of government came into being and "civilization" spread, people started to create theories of government, but there are countless ones, all springing from different societies. What the "duties" fo government are is a society specific question, not a universal truth.