Choosing Government

What is the proper function of government? To help and protect people, or to help and protect business?

   "That government is best that governs least," wrote Henry David Thoreau. But some government is essential to prevent chaos. The issue, then, is how much government does a society want or need "to ensure domestic tranquility," as stated in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution.
   Anarchy is defined as no government at all.
   Monarchy is government by one.
   Oligarchy is government by a few.
   
   Scholars have suggested that the best form of government is a benevolent dictatorship. But few, if any, dictatorships are benevolent. Some may start out that way, but such benevolence never lasts.
   A democracy is where all decisions are made by all citizens by direct involvement. A republic is where decisions are made by representatives of a larger society.
   But a pure democracy is not practical for a large society; it worked in ancient Greece, where relatively small city-states, highly dependent on slaves, enabled all citizens to participate in regular meetings for public decisions.
   America borrowed from both, so government here can be described as a democratic republic, where all citizens can participate in choosing representatives. These representatives then make decisions on how much government is needed or wanted to help and protect the people.
   Therein lies the question, which is how much government involvement is acceptable to the majority of citizens. Put another way, what is government's responsibility to the general public in ensuring domestic tranquility? Is it no involvement at all, reflecting an attitude of everyone to his or her own self interest, and devil take the hindmost, who are branded as losers?
   Or does government have a role in ensuring domestic tranquility by helping build social welfare for all citizens?
   If, as some have proposed, government has had too strong a role, and it is important therefore to dismantle social welfare programs that have been in place for some 80 years, including the pension program for retired workers known as Social Security, and an insurance program for unemployed workers. More recent government-sponsored programs include health insurance for older or disabled workers, known as Medicare; a similar program for the needy, known as Medicaid; and a universal health care program for all Americans, known as Obamacare.
   Those who favor less government involvement call for such programs to be privatized, saying businesses can do it better by investing the program's funds on Wall Street ventures.
   But what if Wall Street crashes? It has happened before, and will likely happen again. It's because of the Great Crash of 1929 and the resulting Great Depression that many of the government-sponsored social welfare programs were created in the first place. Government recognized its responsibility to the general public and stepped in to guarantee social welfare. In short, government stepped up to do the job that the business sector could not or would not do.
   To dismantle them now on the premise that business can and will do a better job is too risky, and would only return America to those awful days of pre-Depression yesteryear. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
   But if it is broken, don't throw it away. Fix it.