The oldest and simplest justification for government is as protector: protecting citizens from violence. However, I believe and opine that individuals and society as a whole can also make a significant contribution towards this.
The idea of government as protector requires taxes to fund, train and equip an army and a police force; to build courts and jails; and to elect or appoint the officials to pass and implement the laws citizens must not break. Regarding foreign threats, government as protector requires the ability to meet and treat with other governments as well as to fight them. This minimalist view of government is clearly on display in the early days of the American Republic, comprised of the President, Congress, Supreme Court and departments of Treasury, War, State and Justice.
Protect and provide
The concept of government as provider comes next: government as provider of goods and services that individuals cannot provide individually for themselves. Government in this conception is the solution to collective action problems, the medium through which citizens create public goods that benefit everyone, but that are also subject to free-rider problems without some collective compulsion.
The basic economic infrastructure of human connectivity falls into this category: the means of physical travel, such as roads, bridges and ports of all kinds, and increasingly the means of virtual travel, such as broadband. All of this infrastructure can be, and typically initially is, provided by private entrepreneurs who see an opportunity to build a road, say, and charge users a toll, but the capital necessary is so great and the public benefit so obvious that ultimately the government takes over.
A more expansive concept of government as provider is the social welfare state: government can cushion the inability of citizens to provide for themselves, particularly in the vulnerable conditions of youth, old age, sickness, disability and unemployment due to economic forces beyond their control. As the welfare state has evolved, its critics have come to see it more as a protector from the harsh results of capitalism, or perhaps as a means of protecting the wealthy from the political rage of the dispossessed. At its best, however, it is providing an infrastructure of care to enable citizens to flourish socially and economically in the same way that an infrastructure of competition does. It provides a social security that enables citizens to create their own economic security.
The oldest and simplest justification for
government
is as
protector
: protecting
citizens
from violence.
However
, I believe and opine that individuals and society as a whole can
also
make
a significant contribution towards this.
The
idea
of
government
as
protector
requires taxes to fund, train and equip an army and a police force; to build courts and jails; and to elect or appoint the officials to pass and implement the laws
citizens
must
not break. Regarding foreign threats,
government
as
protector
requires the ability to
meet
and treat with other
governments
as well
as to fight them. This minimalist view of
government
is
clearly
on display in the early days of the American Republic, comprised of the President, Congress, Supreme Court and departments of Treasury, War, State and Justice.
Protect and provide
The concept of
government
as provider
comes
next
:
government
as provider of
goods
and services that individuals cannot provide
individually
for themselves.
Government
in this conception is the solution to collective action problems, the medium through which
citizens
create public
goods
that benefit everyone,
but
that are
also
subject to free-rider problems without
some
collective compulsion.
The basic economic
infrastructure
of human connectivity falls into this category: the means of physical travel, such as roads, bridges and ports of all kinds, and
increasingly
the means of virtual travel, such as broadband. All of this
infrastructure
can be, and
typically
initially
is, provided by private entrepreneurs who
see
an opportunity to build a road, say, and charge users a toll,
but
the capital necessary is
so
great and the public benefit
so
obvious that
ultimately
the
government
takes over.
A more expansive concept of
government
as provider is the social welfare state:
government
can cushion the inability of
citizens
to provide for themselves,
particularly
in the vulnerable conditions of youth,
old
age, sickness, disability and unemployment due to economic forces beyond their control. As the welfare state has evolved, its critics have
come
to
see
it more
as
a
protector
from the harsh results of capitalism, or perhaps as a means of protecting the wealthy from the political rage of the dispossessed. At its best,
however
, it is providing an
infrastructure
of care to enable
citizens
to flourish
socially
and
economically
in the same way
that an
infrastructure
of competition does. It provides a social security that enables
citizens
to create their
own
economic security.