What is the purpose of government ?

Rob Roy said:

The protection of life, liberty and property can't be as complicated as it has become, can it?

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we seem to over-complicate our lives in order to make ourselves appear more important than we really are. the simple answer to the question is that government's sole duty is to enforce the will of the majority while protecting the rights of the individual. that's not so difficult to understand, now is it? our founding documents are not a list of rights, but a list of the limitations government is allowed to place on our rights. we are free to do anything we want as long as we don't step on anyone else's toes and government is just there to make sure we don't cross that line. government is empowered to take money from us in order to do its job, not to spread it around to those it deems as deserving. government is empowered to pass legislation to protect its citizens, not to make their life better. making your life better is your responsibility. government is empowered to create a standing army to protect its citizens at home and abroad, not to enforce our brand of justice across the globe and most certainly not to quell the rage of its own citizens when they tire of governmental abuse. government is empowered to make treaties with foreign nations for the betterment of our nation as a whole, not to handicap its citizens in order to curry favor with others of power and bring us more in line with what the rest of the world thinks we should be.

"the government" is a term that gets thrown around a lot. Really, there are many aspects to "the government" I think government serves a legitimate role for society, and i think the writers of the constitution covered a lot of them in the preamble. Establishing justice, providing for the common defense, etc, i could go on, but i gotta poo.

I highly recommend reading or getting the audio book

The Republic - Plato

undertheice said:

we seem to over-complicate our lives in order to make ourselves appear more important than we really are. the simple answer to the question is that government's sole duty is to enforce the will of the majority while protecting the rights of the individual. that's not so difficult to understand, now is it? our founding documents are not a list of rights, but a list of the limitations government is allowed to place on our rights. we are free to do anything we want as long as we don't step on anyone else's toes and government is just there to make sure we don't cross that line. government is empowered to take money from us in order to do its job, not to spread it around to those it deems as deserving. government is empowered to pass legislation to protect its citizens, not to make their life better. making your life better is your responsibility. government is empowered to create a standing army to protect its citizens at home and abroad, not to enforce our brand of justice across the globe and most certainly not to quell the rage of its own citizens when they tire of governmental abuse. government is empowered to make treaties with foreign nations for the betterment of our nation as a whole, not to handicap its citizens in order to curry favor with others of power and bring us more in line with what the rest of the world thinks we should be.

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totally agree, weve been conditioned for too long most people think they need to be controlled they have to have constant direction and leadership, and religion doesnt help this problem at all. i think people need to start becoming more responsible for all their actions, thoughts, words, and how that effects everything around them. we gotta come out of victim thinking

twostarhotel said:

totally agree, weve been conditioned for too long most people think they need to be controlled they have to have constant direction and leadership, and religion doesnt help this problem at all. i think people need to start becoming more responsible for all their actions, thoughts, words, and how that effects everything around them. we gotta come out of victim thinking

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Government "services" rely on victims.
Think of the war on drugs and all the unnecessary expenditures and bureaucracy attendant to that scam.

Government loves to expand and protect their turf. People fall into the enablement trap and government then uses that to justify their existence.

Somebody once said government breaks your legs and then hands you a pair of crutches saying, "see you couldn't walk if it wasn't for us"!

Rob Roy said:

Government "services" rely on victims.

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government does not create victims, we create victims of ourselves. we rely on others instead of ourselves, we see success around us and wonder why others should be so blessed and not us, we excuse our own faults while demanding the faults of others be punished. we are greedy and jealous creatures and government merely feeds us the justifications we desire to excuse our own failings. we choose our leaders based on what they promise to do for us, when we should be choosing servants that enable us to do for ourselves. is it any wonder we have placed a bureaucracy over us that treats us as children, unable to reason for ourselves? when we cry they soothe us with platitudes and meager gifts, when we soil ourselves they clean up the mess and when we complain they know our fancy will soon stray to other matters. those who are capable and willing to do for themselves are few and far between because we have been spoon-fed the lie of our freedom for so long.

undertheice said:

government does not create victims, we create victims of ourselves. we rely on others instead of ourselves, we see success around us and wonder why others should be so blessed and not us, we excuse our own faults while demanding the faults of others be punished. we are greedy and jealous creatures and government merely feeds us the justifications we desire to excuse our own failings. we choose our leaders based on what they promise to do for us, when we should be choosing servants that enable us to do for ourselves. is it any wonder we have placed a bureaucracy over us that treats us as children, unable to reason for ourselves? when we cry they soothe us with platitudes and meager gifts, when we soil ourselves they clean up the mess and when we complain they know our fancy will soon stray to other matters. those who are capable and willing to do for themselves are few and far between because we have been spoon-fed the lie of our freedom for so long.

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totally! we are bombarded by social pressures and constant propaghanda, and they wanted it like that knowlegde is power, they dont want people questioning their own potentials. they just keep the flow going.
" We reproduce catastrophe because we ourselves are traumatized, both as a species and individually, beginning at birth. because we are wounded, we have put up psychic defenses against reality and have become so cut off from direct participation in the multidimensional wilderness in which we are embedded that all we can do is to navigate our way cautiously through a humanly designed day to day substitute world of symbols- a world of dollars, minutes, numbers, images and words that are constantly being manipulated to wring the most possible profit from every conceivable circumstance. the body and spirit both rebel"
David Watson- (The Pathology of Civilization)

twostarhotel said:

we are bombarded by social pressures and constant propaganda, and they wanted it like that knowledge is power, they don't want people questioning their own potentials. they just keep the flow going.

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can't you see that you are falling into the trap of victimhood? it's a trap we've made for ourselves, designed to sidestep responsibility. every word you have just written blames someone else for our condition. we blame "them", it's "their" fault, it's all about what "they" are doing "to" us. nothing about the ramifications of our own actions and certainly nothing about the responsibility we must all take for our own choices. instead of stepping up and admitting that each of us allows others to push us this way and that, your very words show how willing you are to define yourself as just another faceless drone amid the feckless masses. blaming society or "the man" may provide a convenient scapegoat for failure, but it does nothing to alleviate the problem.

undertheice said:

can't you see that you are falling into the trap of victimhood? it's a trap we've made for ourselves, designed to sidestep responsibility. every word you have just written blames someone else for our condition. we blame "them", it's "their" fault, it's all about what "they" are doing "to" us. nothing about the ramifications of our own actions and certainly nothing about the responsibility we must all take for our own choices. instead of stepping up and admitting that each of us allows others to push us this way and that, your very words show how willing you are to define yourself as just another faceless drone amid the feckless masses. blaming society or "the man" may provide a convenient scapegoat for failure, but it does nothing to alleviate the problem.

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yes very true if i were to have actually been talking about just myself, what i meant to express was the overall situation as a collective whole. which we are still connected to and part of. the number of people out there that have awareness of victim thinking and self responsiblity are few. as each one of us becomes "aware" i feel that awareness can spread eventually, i say we because we are the people of this country or whatever country, we need the collective responsible participation, to get a system that will work or otherwise youll maybe find me living in the deep of switzerland with my little farm and garden or something

how did you know i like cheese