rf@wu1.UUCP (12/20/83)
To start my discussion on political philosophy, I pose these two
questions:
1. What is a 'government'? How does it differ from other
types of organization?
2. What is the proper function of government?
I will post results to the net unless there are too many to
post; in that case I will post edited results. Please note that
I am not looking for definitive answers. I will not take direct
issue with any answer in my posting of results, though I may do
so later.
Randolph Fritzmmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) (12/23/83)
1. What is a 'government'? How does it differ from other
types of organization?
2. What is the proper function of government?
==============
It's easier to deal with the two questions in the other order, because
your ideas on what a government should do determines what you think a
government is. So:
(2) A government's main function is to focus the activities of people
so that events occur for the common benefit that would not be likely
to happen as a result of individual enterprise. This includes both
acticating and inhibiting functions (funding basic research is "activating",
passing laws against murder is "inhibiting"). It is unlikely that
highways and other aspects of the infrastructure would be highly
developed by private enterprise, at least not in a way that the poorest
could take advantage of them. It is economically risky for a small
company to undertake basic research, but the few results that do turn
out to be useful are useful to the entire community (or world), so
it makes sense for government to fund most basic research.
What government should NOT do is to over-regulate and over-inhibit.
Nor should it over-activate. Over-control is as bad as under-control.
The difficulty is to determine where the optimum balance lies, and to
see when it changes in each of the many different complex areas of
modern civilization.
(1) A government is a set of organized groups of people who are delegated
by individuals or by other smaller groups to act on their behalf in
matters of common interest. The delegation may be imposed by force,
or freely given. Usually, the structure of a government of more than
a few tens of people is formalized because there is too much institutional
inertia and too many complex interactions to permit easy change. The
Board of Directors of a company is a government, usually in power
by the application of financial force. There is no essential difference
between the government of a town or country and that of a company, except
for the degree of supervision or control exerted from other governments,
and the nature of the delegated authority. National governments tend
to assert that they are under no control except possibly for the votes
of their citizens, but that control also amounts to practically no control.
What is lacking is a system of interaction whereby national governments,
like other bodies, exert control in some areas while being controlled
in other areas.
I'm sorry if this doesn't fit with the ideas of various ideologues
of different colours. It is a relativistic view of government, that
may sometimes appear socialist, sometimes free-enterprise.
--
Martin Taylor
{allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt