July 16, 2003

Government

Last night I read quite a few articles and comments about government, which got me to thinking…

What is government’s purpose? What is good government? How can I tell if
someone is right or wrong in saying that our government sucks? I can’t recall
running across any clear-cut answers to any of these questions so I thought
I would try to figure out what my answers to these questions would be.
Basically I realized that I feel that it is Government’s job to foster positive
social growth and reduce or eliminate social ills.
OK, that led me to making a list, because I realized that determining what
is or is not a social ill is completely discretionary, and I needed to figure
out what I felt about all of this. (I am starting to think that being active
in any politcal process is really hard. It took me almost an hour to do a
bit of self examination and figure out what I think/feel about most of this
stuff.) OK, so here’s the list…

SOCIAL POSITIVES SOCIAL ILLS
Productivity Crime
Health Pre-mature Death
High Education rates Poverty
Innovation Excessive laziness
Limited waste / full use of resources Disease
Low environment impact Filth / Squalor
Religion and Religious freedom Waste
Opportunity for individuals Illiteracy / Ignorance
High Standard of living Environment degredation
Ease of transportation and communication Over-worked citizenry
Individual self-control Unhappiness
Happiness (or it’s pursuit) Rudeness
Enjoyment of property Impending on one’s enjoyment of property
Generosity
Privacy
I guess the next step in reinventing this wheel is to think
of effective ways to promote the positives and curb the negatives. Luckily,
I have history and current events to look to for a lot of suggestions. I
think that I will also realize that I missed a great number of things as
well as many details, which are probably subcategories under these list items.
If you are interested in adding something that you feel I have forgotten,
go ahead and leave a comment.

Posted by David under Personal Development |

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