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
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SOCIAL ILLS
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Productivity
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Crime
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Health
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Pre-mature Death
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High Education rates
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Poverty
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Innovation
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Excessive laziness
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Limited waste / full use of resources
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Disease
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Low environment impact
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Filth / Squalor
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Religion and Religious freedom
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Waste
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Opportunity for individuals
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Illiteracy / Ignorance
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High Standard of living
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Environment degredation
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Ease of transportation and communication
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Over-worked citizenry
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Individual self-control
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Unhappiness
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Happiness (or it's pursuit)
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Rudeness
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Enjoyment of property
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Impending on one's enjoyment of property
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Generosity
|
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Privacy
|
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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 at July 16, 2003 04:29 PM
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