The role of government in one sentence.

[Massachusetts]

If you had to write just one sentence to describe what the role of government is supposed to be to somebody who knew nothing, say a child, what would you say?

Should be an interesting little thread. :D

[erowe1]

The role of government is to facilitate the subjugation of one group of people to another.

[jj-]

Nightwatchman.

[Travlyr]

"This is the function that the liberal doctrine assigns to the state: the protection of property, liberty, and peace." - Ludwig von Mises

[Sola_Fide]

Is the purpose of government to protect liberty? I wonder because Ron always says that.

[Kotin]

the purpose and role of government is to control.

[MelissaWV]

Government is currently there to tell you what to do, even if you know better, and to protect you from things you could better defend yourself from, and to steal money from you under threat of violence to fund all of the aforementioned, paying far more than you ever would have spent on programs you never would have dreamed of paying for at all.

[Kylie]

Government is force.

It should not be this way, but it is.

[Noble Savage]

government is for people that can't protect themselves

[DGambler]

Government is to enforce contracts between sovereign individuals.

[Eisenhower]

To serve the people.

[erowe1]

To serve the people.

I can think of a lot of organizations whose role it is to serve people, and what they all have in common is that they aren't the government.

[MelissaWV]

To serve the people.
^ This would be my answer for "government," but our current Government cannot be described as such.

[Vessol]

The monopoly of the use of physical force within a given territory.

[jj-]

The monopoly of the legal use of physical force within a given territory.

fixed?

[Vessol]

fixed?

No. When the same institution that holds a monopoly over declaring what is legal or not, also decides that it's monopoly on the use of force is the only one that is legal. It makes a mockery of the word "legal" to a rubber stamp definition.

The role(definition in this case) of government is simply:
A institution that claims a monopoly on physical violence in a specific geographic area.

[seraphson]

To pay for my food, shelter, kids, education, and healthcare. To warmonger and use an alliance of other government's nations to bully and beat up certain select nations into giving me cheaper natural resources. To make laws, bans, regulations, and to have things the way I see fit as long as it furthers their agenda as well. To tax those who are productive and leverage the difference into existence using fiat currency to pay for all of this. Mostly its main role is to replace my need to think for myself and substitutes that for its own.

[MelissaWV]

... that's a lot more than one sentence.

[Vessol]

... that's a lot more than one sentence.

Keynesian sentences defy your grammatical logic!

[Pericles]

The role of government is to provide for the common defense, establish justice via an honest legal system, and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity.

[muzzled dogg]

At the most, protect life, liberty, and property

[evilfunnystuff]

The role of government is to facilitate the subjugation of one group of people to another.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-uXwzpClRE8I/TriqZbo38tI/AAAAAAAAAT4/4YHJp-Aoqlk/317476_182922011785607_100002034278453_387022_4619 37870_n.jpg

[Keith and stuff]

At the most, protect life, liberty, and property

I agree :)

"...the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property."
http://freestateproject.org/org/mission

[Danan]

What government is, explained to a child:

http://vimeo.com/23912176


What government should be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy9FRli7ODg

[row333au]

The Government is the collective ownership of all the public citizens whose sole purpose is to administer the countries resources, - "and that government of the people, by the people, for the people" - thus first and foremost concern will be the democratic consensus of a republic conceived in Liberty under a constitutional order dedicated to protect and serve individual and sovereignty rights of its citizens (the public or 'the people') above all others, as answerable to all anti-tyranny, anti-corruption, of moral and ethics with fairness and equality to all created life.

[VanBummel]

"Not much."

[RickyJ]

To serve and protect the people.

But today it is more like: To screw and rape the people.

[mport1]

A criminal gang who illegitimately claims the ability to legally initiate force against individuals in a given geographic region. Or more succinctly, the most successful criminal gang in a given area.

[Pauling]

Government is a gun, pointed at your head.

[mad cow]

That to secure these Rights...

[patriot2008]

The role of government is to become a monster. Wasn't it said early on that it is like a necessary beast that needs to be chained, contained and beaten back, or abolished every so often?

[Lothario]

Government is a place bad men go to control you, and they've tricked all your friends into thinking we need them.

[Knightskye]

I don't think many of the people who volunteered explanations, read the original post that asked for an explanation that a child would understand.

[ryanmkeisling]

I don't want to be governed.

[noneedtoaggress]

"This is the function that the liberal doctrine assigns to the state: the protection of property, liberty, and peace." - Ludwig von Mises

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/303342_309709259106966_275328911_n.jpg

Mises also said:


If it were in any way possible to grant this right of self-determination to every individual person, it would have to be done.

[noneedtoaggress]

Is the purpose of government to protect liberty? I wonder because Ron always says that.

He also says this:



Our standards of living are made possible by the blessed institution of liberty. When liberty is under attack, everything we hold dear is under attack. Governments, by their very nature, notoriously compete with liberty — even when the stated purpose for establishing a particular government is to protect liberty.


And yet even among the friends of liberty, many people are deceived into believing that government can make them safe from all harm, provide fairly distributed economic security, and improve individual moral behavior. If the government is granted a monopoly on the use of force to achieve these goals, history shows that that power is always abused. Every single time.

From the intro to Liberty Defined (http://mises.org/daily/5219)

[awake]

The government's sole purpose is to protect my natural right to do as I please so long as I do not injure or damage the person or property of others.


In practice, government is being used solely to injure and damage the persons and property of others. To measure what government does vs. what it was tasked to do is to acknowledge absolute failure of monopoly government. In light of this, our clear path is market provided governance.

Private property rights is to liberty what oxygen is to the human body.

[mrsat_98]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.

[LibertyRevolution]

The proper role of government is to protect the rights of the individual.

[BuddyRey]

Government is a problem constantly posing as its own solution.

[Lothario]

speaking off the record: It's kind of insane how many people think the "proper role of government is to protect the rights of the individual," and yet the fact that for the institution to exist, it must then necessarily have a moral right to tax you without your consent doesn't seem to pose any inherent contradictions for them...

[Massachusetts]

Thank you for all the responses! Keep 'em coming!

[MikeStanart]

All your base are belong to us

[mport1]

speaking off the record: It's kind of insane how many people think the "proper role of government is to protect the rights of the individual," and yet the fact that for the institution to exist, it must then necessarily have a moral right to tax you without your consent doesn't seem to pose any inherent contradictions for them...

Yep, this idea is burned into our minds at an early age though. It took me years to see the contradiction even when it was right in front of my eyes. Now it is so simple, I don't understand how I was ever fooled by it.

[Lothario]

It took me years to see the contradiction even when it was right in front of my eyes. Now it is so simple, I don't understand how I was ever fooled by it.

Likewise my friend. It's scary how incredibly genius and successful the government has really been...

[pcosmar]

Observed Role ?
Historic Role ?
Correct Role ?

[Occam's Banana]

Government is that great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else. -- Frederic Bastiat, Government

[Sola_Fide]

speaking off the record: It's kind of insane how many people think the "proper role of government is to protect the rights of the individual," and yet the fact that for the institution to exist, it must then necessarily have a moral right to tax you without your consent doesn't seem to pose any inherent contradictions for them...

Which is why I brought up the fact that Ron often says that the purpose of government is to protect liberty. Some people will never be comfortable with allowing the tension to exist there between what Ron says at different times.

[TheBlackPeterSchiff]

fuck you pay me

[LatinsforPaul]

The role of (the federal) government is to adhere to Article I Section 8 of the US Constitution.

[Travlyr]

speaking off the record: It's kind of insane how many people think the "proper role of government is to protect the rights of the individual," and yet the fact that for the institution to exist, it must then necessarily have a moral right to tax you without your consent doesn't seem to pose any inherent contradictions for them...


Government is a place bad men go to control you, and they've tricked all your friends into thinking we need them.

Your definition of government is confusing to me. What you describe is an oligarchy of rulers who control others while exempting themselves from the law. That is not the proper role of government. Proper government is necessary to protect property, liberty, and peace. That is why I quoted Mises. He understood that.


"This is the function that the liberal doctrine assigns to the state: the protection of property, liberty, and peace." - Ludwig von Mises

Government protects individual's property by establishing standards and keeping them static over time. We can't use Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushel) as a governing document because people can change the defintions or wording. If someone sells you a bushel of wheat it should weigh 60 lbs at 13.5% moisture. If you know that when you make the trade, then the seller can't sell you 59 lbs of wheat and cheat you out of a pound of flour. You can prove in court or in arbitration what the standard is.

Same for liter, meter, gallon, acre, Eagle, and Dollar, on & on, etc. Standards are governing documents. Standards can be created by the free market, but they must remain static or else cheating becomes the order of the day. That is exactly what we endure today. We have a lack of government keeping the Dollar standard static. In 1792, the Dollar was codified (http://www.constitution.org/uslaw/coinage1792.txt) as 371.25 grains of pure silver. It was usurped in 1861 (http://moneyfactory.gov/historytimeline.html) by counterfeiters. If government had not allowed the Dollar standard to be ignored, then the inflation tax would be virtually nonexistent and it is by far the most expensive tax collected by the counterfeiting Oligarchy today.

Laws are also required to state that no one can go around killing someone else without due process. When that is ignored then peace is no longer protected. Again, that is the problem we endure today. A guy named Barack Obama or people imitating government servants in blue uniforms can kill anyone they want without due process or punishment. Ignoring the Constitution delivers same result as not having a Constitution.

Prosperity comes from the land. It can be mined, grown, or sewn. One can dig for gold, oil, or whatever on their land. Or one can raise food, fibers for clothing, or plastics, etc. Or one could build a factory and make airplanes on their land. But land has to have boundaries which require records and land laws in order to settle boundary disputes and other property issues. Whither that is done publicly or privately makes no difference, it is still governing documents used to settle disputes ... just like contract law.

If the 'Bill of Rights' was strictly respected, then the government would be protecting property, liberty, and peace. When people claim that we don't need any government at all, I say, that is about what we have now.

[Voluntary Man]

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness — That
to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it."

[kuckfeynes]

The role of government, from basic property protection to socialization of entire industries, is to monopolize.