The Role of Government - Part I

The question of the role of government always bothers me. What is the role of government? What is its functional purpose? The framers of the U.S. Constitution saw it quite simply and clearly laid out what role the Government ought to fulfill. It's clearly laid out in the Preamble:

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

To form a More Perfect Union

The goal of forming a more perfect union arises from the need to collect the various independent states that form present day America to better serve our common interests. The idea is to recognize that individual states have their certain rights in legislating domestic law, and the role of the central government is to serve as an overseer of intra-state relations and not as a micro-management mechanism.


Establish Justice

Any modern nation needs a justice system that will recognize the private property rights of individuals, and to protect them from harm that others may cause. Regardless of the nature of the people, inequities occur where a court will need to step in to balance and make even any claim that a party has upon the other. It is for the purpose that no person may retain more rights than others in trade and commerce that this judicial system was established to level the playing field for all participants.


Ensure Domestic Tranquility

One of the more controversial parts of the constitution is that which empowers the government to ensure domestic tranquility - which includes addressing rebellions and other forms of unrest that a federal government may deem a threat. The general idea is to respond to any issue which may affect the general welfare of the people.

Provide for the common defence

No state alone could have withstood attack from overseas by foreign navies and invading forces. Therefore, the collective interests of states are pooled to form a national army to address foreign threats - for defensive purposes only.

Promote the general Welfare

The culmination of all the precedent purposes of government is for the sole purpose of serving the people, their general welfare.

[to] secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity

The central idea of this new American government, as the framers see it, is to allow the people to be free and pursue their interests as the deem fit, and not to have any central authority having dominion over your personal affairs.

However, what we have instead... is a government which seeks to administer our daily lives through never ending complex legislation which regulate all aspects of our life and commerce, further expanding both its stranglehold and power with every bill it signs into law. Every week, as new laws are passed, liberties are robbed from the people. These laws on the surface appear to limit a form of malpractice that the elite few have deemed in their view must be ceased. With every new law, comes the increased cost of administration of such law. The administration of which comes from the fruit of the labor of the people. Therefore, the government today lays claim on both our liberty and labor with every passage of law.