how ??????

Question

how does the government serve the public good ?

Answer 1

The government is there to protect and regulate.
By having a police force and a military the govenment is keeping you safe.

By regulating how buissness is done and by whom, the govenment keeps you safe from harm and tries to keep things fair

Answer 2

I'm not sure if you wanted a deep, philosophical answer, but this question does lend itself to one. It is also one of the great political theoretical debates existent.

Let's start with the State of Nature. Now, the State of Nature is a non-existent point in human history wherein there was no government or organizing principal whatsoever. According to Hobbes, this was a terrible period, wherein life was "solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short." Hobbes argues that we seceded power to a "leviathan" or government in order to escape this state of nature. He also argues that no matter how bad a government acts, it still is better than living in a state of nature. So here, the government serves the public good merely by existing.

Now Locke argues that although the State of Nature is bad, government actually does have responsibilities to its constituents, the big three being, of course, "Life, liberty and the pursuit of property." According to Locke, government allows us to actually attain these three-however, when it limits these rights, then the government is in error. Here the government serves the public good by protecting certain unalienable rights.

Finally, Rousseau argues that the State of Nature was not so bad after all. "Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains." His basic argument was that we actually would be better off in the completely free, anarchistic environment but that man cannot and will not live this way- we seek government. So we enter into a "social contract" wherein we agree to seced some of our freedoms for a greater societal freedom- in essence, we are "forced to be free." Here government creates a societal good which in turn creates an individual liberty.

Sorry, that was long-winded and probably not helpful, but I do love Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau and take any opportunity to reference them.

Answer 3

You are gonna get a lot of smart *** remarks for this one... most people will give you a cynical or inflamatory answer, but if you are asking for a more straightfoward answer...

"governments are created by the people in order to provide for collective needs (such as safety from crime, poverty, illiteracy) that cannot be properly satisfied using purely individual means. Governments thus exist for the purpose of serving the needs and wishes of the people, and their relationship with the people is clearly stipulated in a "social contract" (a constitution and a set of laws) which both the government and the people must abide by. If a majority is unhappy, it may change the social contract. If a minority is unhappy, it may persuade the majority to change the contract, or it may opt out of it by emigration or secession."

Hope that helps...

Dan

Answer 4

I'd say the government serves it'self first, and then people..

Did you know that if you want to get on welfare you either have to have a kid at a young age, or be on drugs.. I can't believe that they support people on drugs.. I mean.. I can tell you I know tons of people who use the money they get from welfare to PAY for their drugs.. how is that doing any good?

Not to mention the thousands of immigrants coming into the country and getting on welfare, living off of the government..

I know we need to pay taxes, but I think that we should have the right to CHOOSE where are tax money ends up.. like if we have kids in school, choose to help support schools systems.. or tax money for fixing roads, etc..

Just my opinion : )

Answer 5

The government keeps the terrorists out of our country so they don't blow up buildings again. After all, Iraq caused 9/11, right?

(I hope you detect a bit of sarcasm here :-) )

Answer 6

We all would be better off if BUSH had DIED in his sleep from natural causes Ten (10*) years ago...

Answer 7

Having read the recent illegal amnesty immigration bill, I would say that it does not.