What do YOU think the role of Government is?

@Pyrogram said:

What do you think it means or is?

I think my previous post kinda made that clear. ;)

@mrdecepticonleader said:

@lorbo said:

@mrdecepticonleader said:

@Nefarious said:

@Pyrogram said:

@Nefarious said:

I think the role of government is to make the country a better place for future and current generations. Well, that is just my take on this.

Yes, but how can they do this?

They can do this by getting to to the root of our problems and implementing laws.

And what are the roots of problems? and implement which laws?

The root of the problem is us...humans. Sorry to say but it is true. You will never have a perfect government when humans running it and those under it won't all do the right thing.

We can legislate laws but we cannot legislate morality. The problem is not so much government as it is morality.

Would we need so many laws if people cared about each other enough not to harm each other? I think not. Would we need so many laws if people did not take needless risks with their lives? Laws are a way to curb the dangerous side of humanity. And we can only hope that people do the right thing, we are not gods, we are only human.

I don't agree as humans we do wrong but we are capable of learning.We need laws I agree.I think we need laws to make sure people follow those values and if they don't there are consequences as it as all to do with the structure of society.

Morality is something we have created and it changes and progresses over time.

But I was asking another user as to what they meant not you.

Morality isn't the problem, it's free will. One unpleasant truth in the world is that you can never get everyone to agree on everything. Human beings only want equality if they're being discriminated against. When they are being treated equally they take it for granted and want to be told that they are special or unique when in most cases they're not.

I'd ask how do we solve this problem but a better question is why would we want to solve it? If you eliminate free will you have a dictatorship, and if you treat everyone equally you have communism. The purpose of government is not to make its citizens happy, but rather create a society that most people can be content with.

@dngn4774 said:

@mrdecepticonleader said:

@lorbo said:

@mrdecepticonleader said:

@Nefarious said:

@Pyrogram said:

@Nefarious said:

I think the role of government is to make the country a better place for future and current generations. Well, that is just my take on this.

Yes, but how can they do this?

They can do this by getting to to the root of our problems and implementing laws.

And what are the roots of problems? and implement which laws?

The root of the problem is us...humans. Sorry to say but it is true. You will never have a perfect government when humans running it and those under it won't all do the right thing.

We can legislate laws but we cannot legislate morality. The problem is not so much government as it is morality.

Would we need so many laws if people cared about each other enough not to harm each other? I think not. Would we need so many laws if people did not take needless risks with their lives? Laws are a way to curb the dangerous side of humanity. And we can only hope that people do the right thing, we are not gods, we are only human.

I don't agree as humans we do wrong but we are capable of learning.We need laws I agree.I think we need laws to make sure people follow those values and if they don't there are consequences as it as all to do with the structure of society.

Morality is something we have created and it changes and progresses over time.

But I was asking another user as to what they meant not you.

Morality isn't the problem, it's free will. One unpleasant truth in the world is that you can never get everyone to agree on everything. Human beings only want equality if they're being discriminated against. When they are being treated equally they take it for granted and want to be told that they are special or unique when in most cases they're not.

I'd ask how do we solve this problem but a better question is why would we want to solve it? If you eliminate free will you have a dictatorship, and if you treat everyone equally you have communism. The purpose of government is not to make its citizens happy, but rather create a society that most people can be content with.

I disagree, How can the citizens be content with a government they are not happy with?

@dngn4774 said:

@mrdecepticonleader said:

@lorbo said:

@mrdecepticonleader said:

@Nefarious said:

@Pyrogram said:

@Nefarious said:

I think the role of government is to make the country a better place for future and current generations. Well, that is just my take on this.

Yes, but how can they do this?

They can do this by getting to to the root of our problems and implementing laws.

And what are the roots of problems? and implement which laws?

The root of the problem is us...humans. Sorry to say but it is true. You will never have a perfect government when humans running it and those under it won't all do the right thing.

We can legislate laws but we cannot legislate morality. The problem is not so much government as it is morality.

Would we need so many laws if people cared about each other enough not to harm each other? I think not. Would we need so many laws if people did not take needless risks with their lives? Laws are a way to curb the dangerous side of humanity. And we can only hope that people do the right thing, we are not gods, we are only human.

I don't agree as humans we do wrong but we are capable of learning.We need laws I agree.I think we need laws to make sure people follow those values and if they don't there are consequences as it as all to do with the structure of society.

Morality is something we have created and it changes and progresses over time.

But I was asking another user as to what they meant not you.

Morality isn't the problem, it's free will. One unpleasant truth in the world is that you can never get everyone to agree on everything. Human beings only want equality if they're being discriminated against. When they are being treated equally they take it for granted and want to be told that they are special or unique when in most cases they're not.

I'd ask how do we solve this problem but a better question is why would we want to solve it? If you eliminate free will you have a dictatorship, and if you treat everyone equally you have communism. The purpose of government is not to make its citizens happy, but rather create a society that most people can be content with.

I disagree that is a very broad generalization you make there,regarding humans wanting equality,I myself want equality for everyone regardless if I am being discriminated against or not.And many people who campaign for equal rights want that as well.And who wants to be told they are special? And why? Again I think that is a broad generalization.

Well I disagree I would say that is a big problem with society,about actually making people happy.I think that is one of the big failings of society in that many people are not only unhappy but they aren't anywhere near content either. Pyrogram also raised a good point as well. I mean even in countries where they pride themselves as being a democracy they are still monstrously unfair.

@Pyrogram What I mean of the logistics of any government (especially a nation with over 300 million people) making all or most of its citizen happy is impossible. It's your own responsibility to make yourself happy not the government.

@mrdecepticonleader I can understand your disagreement with my opinion on happiness but most people don't care about social issues that they don't have to see on a daily basis (i.e. outside of their own community). It's good that you do but when I make these generalizations I am talking about the average American.

The being special generalization refers to things such as American exceptionalism and my generation's problem of having overly high self esteem without the skills to back it up.

I agree that this current government is not helping enough people find contentment, but as Americans we are told to always pursue as much happiness as possible. As a result, we begin to make happiness our top priority and often feel entitled to happiness (before attempts are made to earn it). This is an ideology I am highly critical of since pursuing happiness often leads to greed and greed often prevents others from their own happiness. This is why I think the best government (not necessarily the US government) would be a regime that tries to aim for contentment rather than happiness.

@dngn4774 said:

@Pyrogram What I mean of the logistics of any government (especially a nation with over 300 million people) making all or most of its citizen happy is impossible. It's your own responsibility to make yourself happy not the government.

@mrdecepticonleader I can understand your disagreement with my opinion on happiness but most people don't care about social issues that they don't have to see on a daily basis (i.e. outside of their own community). It's good that you do but when I make these generalizations I am talking about the average American.

The being special generalization refers to things such as American exceptionalism and my generation's problem of having overly high self esteem without the skills to back it up.

I agree that this current government is not helping enough people find contentment, but as Americans we are told to always pursue as much happiness as possible. As a result, we begin to make happiness our top priority and often feel entitled to happiness (before attempts are made to earn it). This is an ideology I am highly critical of since pursuing happiness often leads to greed and greed often prevents others from their own happiness. This is why I think the best government (not necessarily the US government) would be a regime that tries to aim for contentment rather than happiness.

Fair enough I don't live in America.

Egads! Some people should make a serious effort to study the dictionary and history.

Just for grins here's an opinion a la Conan:

Crush the Citizens

Control every aspect of their lives

Revel in their misery