what is the single purpose of government? Single word answers please
To me there is 1 single word that best describes the purpose of government at any level. Who can name it?
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"Facilitate", or if you like "To Serve".
But now days its "Control".
Which is why I feel corporate America has let Americans down by siding with government. I feel corporations have become whiny, cringing lobbyists instead of otherwise competitively practicing entities. Shame on cronyism!
Instead we have his polar opposite
So I will stick with my first answer.
The only purpose you see them pursue is Power.
of individual rights
of personal property
of national sovereignty
Well... that is what its purpose has become. We, are all to become good little vassals.
Many of the other purposes, such as defense and liberty and rights can be the prerogative of state governments or even county militia. In order to be able to defend against a common foe, though, someone has to be able to coordinate all of these units together. Similarly, when a child is kidnapped across state lines, there has to be some way of not dropping the search for the child. Water and power that pass through several states also need a coordinating body. (Though in fact this need, like the others, has been leveraged for Power rather than power.) The EU has had to cobble itself together in an attempt to meet the clout of the US, which it cannot attain as separate nations.
So I think it is up to the people to value Liberty and Rights and up to the States (or locals) to train for defense...but it is actually useful to have a government that puts this all into a whole and which has a single great Constitution we all respect.
Jan, long-winded and in much more than one word
"Pay up or we take your rights, freedoms and property."
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