Government and Survival
Tue 8:05 am +01:00, 22 Nov 2022WHAT IS GOVERNMENT FOR?
by Steve Cook
I don’t know yet if this is a natural law but it seems to be a pretty workable rule of thumb: the more power over the citizenry is acquired by the State, the more miserable the citizenry becomes. There are two ways to view the role of government:
- One is that the People should serve their government.
- The other is that their government should serve the people.
All governments are powered by the energy of the people. Where the former concept prevails, government has little value for the People and will ultimately starve of energy and decline and fail. The optimum form of government, so far as The People are concerned, is the latter: a government that serves the People and is motivated b duty to the People. Either option only prevails with the agreement or acceptance of the People. It is for us to decide and agree upon which one we want. Legitimate functions of a government designed and run for service to the people are:
- The provision of infrastructure (roads, rail, power supply, mail, sanitation, airports etc etc)
- The provision of a stable, trusted means of exchange in sufficient volume to facilitate the smooth exchange of goods and services between the citizen as producer and the citizen consumer. The form of that means of exchange (money) to be both digital and notes and coins according to the demand of the citizenry for either. It is not for the government to dictate what form of money we can have; its role is to provide what we want.
- Just laws that prohibit harmful acts – acts easily recognised and agreed upon by the citizenry as inimical to survival – with the purpose of making the environment safe for the honest citizen . Such acts would, for example be murder, rape, theft, blackmail, mugging, assault, child abuse etc etc. In other words acts clealy and unambiguously defined and easily recognised and agreed to be undesirable according to the mores customs and experience of the people.
- The enforcement of such just laws through a police and judiciary that is only interested in the enforcement of such laws. None may be exempt from such just laws from the lowest person in the land to the very highest. All (ALL) people shall be considered responsible for their own actions.
- Providing smooth access for all (ALL) citizens to justice and redress of wrongs on equal terms without fear or favour.
- Upholding the mores and customs of the people.
- Upholding peace both internally and internationally.
- Protecting and safeguarding the nation’s borders.
- Safeguarding human rights as ably described in the UN Declaration on Human Rights.
All providers of goods, services and functions have a PRODUCT, the finished thing they present to their consumer and receive for it some form of exchange. Where the product is not clearly stated, known and understood, quality control cannot occur – flat ball bearings coming off the production line cannot be detected and corrected if it is not understood that the product is round ball bearings. The PRODUCT of government has not been agreed upon and clearly stated. Thus, quality control with the detection and elimination or correction of flawed products, cannot occur. Thus the government deteriorates with the proliferation of flawed or defective or outright dangerous products. We propose that the product of a government designed and run for all the people is; a safe environment in which all honest people can flourish and prosper and accomplish their survival goals.
