To enforce contracts.
To establish common currency.
To protect the rights of the people.
To maintain honesty in advertising and labeling.
To secure public safety standards.
To promote the welfare of the public.
To provide organization in time of crisis.

I suppose there are probably more but I'm not thinking of them right now.

Welcome. We could use more posts with thought put into them.


Here's what I think the role of government is:
1) Protect Life, Liberty, Property and the Pursuit of Happiness of it's subjects from foreign threats, fellow citizens and from the central government itself.
2) Ensure that all of it's subjects are equal in the eyes of the government.
3) Protect the free market from monopolies.
4) Provide those things which are necessary to sustain a prosperous existence to each and every citizen.
5) Represent the morals and welfare of the nation towards it's neighbors.
6) Ensure that a single entity will never obtain so much power that it limits the power of another.
7) Represent the will of the majority.

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"Masters of War" by Bob Dylan
"When a man assumes public trust, he should consider himself as public property"
-Thomas Jefferson
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
-Albert Einstein
"One man with courage is a majority"
-Thomas Jefferson

Haha.

A peaceful revolution would be in order I think.

What? Why?

Suppose the will of the majority wants to take property from the rich or kill off the Jews, or bring back slavery.

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The White Fox Uncertainty Principle states that:
You can never know the position of a liberal and the logic behind it at the same time.

Government's main purpose is to establish a social order for a population too high to accomplish that through the natural human facilities.
That's really it.

Everything else is just flavor added by each specific culture. Different groups have different ideas on what it is that they need for social order.
The most modern governments thus try to rule loosely in order to allow for those differences to prosper... as evergrowing populations lead to evergrowing diversity and far less social cohesion.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III
what your pet really thinks of you...

1. Abolition of private property and the application of all rents of land to public purposes.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
6. Centralization of the means of communications and transportation in the hands of the State.
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
8. Equal liability of all to labor. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries, gradual abolition of the distinction between town and country, by a more equitable distribution of population over the country.
10. Free education for all children in public schools.


Oh wait...those are the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto.

I'm wondering how many democrats read through them and said, "Wow...I really like those!"

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Political Affiliation: Zod

in my humble opinion -

1) protect the rights of the individual to life, liberty, and property from the majority
2) prevent and prosecute fraud in the marketplace, initiated violence (as opposed to defensive violence), and infringement on the rights of other individuals
3) establish and maintain an environment where the individual can pursue success (or failure) as an individual without undue aid (or burden) from the government that is not equally applied to all individuals

the purpose is not:

1) redistribute wealth
2) protect the individual from themselves
3) regulate beyond what is necessary to prevent infringement upon other's rights
4) enforce 'morals'
5) plan or control economic forces beyond preventing and prosecuting fraud
6) provide any material to any citizen beyond material that is provided to all citizens

What sort of actions would you want the government to do to stop monopolies?

The government has a responsibility to break them up, it has the ability to do so, and it's hard to hide a monopoly. It's simple.

__________________
The White Fox Uncertainty Principle states that:
You can never know the position of a liberal and the logic behind it at the same time.