Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.
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Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam.
To get on or off the Greenfield ping list please reply to this post or notify me by Freepmail.
What is the purpose of government?
If we look back at the dawn of civilization, we see the change fro hunter-gatherer people, living either in small clans or tribes, and having a very primitive form of government...the Family Unit. The purpose of the family unit was to protect the members.
Once humans began to cultivate the earth and harvest crops, and keep livestock, they were exposed to marauding raiders who wanted to take the fruits of their labor for themselves. Thus, the people who did the work coalesced into a form of village government, The purpose of this government was to protect the members.
As wealth increased, so did the danger from the raiders and looters. The villages grew larger and became surrounded by walls. People divided the labors among themselves, and became farmers, herders, craftspeople, and government. The purpose of the government was to protect the members.
Villages became cities, and the protectors became soldiers. People were needed to preside over the city to keep order, so the people learned that they would have to pay some kind of rent or tax to support the government. The purpose of the government was to protect the people.
The Feudal System developed where a King or leader owned the land and the people within the walls allowed themselves to become tenants or serfs in order to be safe within the walls, even if it was at the expense of their freedom. The purpose of government was to protect the people.
Since the Enlightenment, people began to realize how precious and important Freedom is to the Human Spirit. Yet, they still submit to a form of government. Ideally the purpose of a government over a free people is “To provide for the common defense”. The purpose of government, even today, is to protect the people from enemies foreign and domestic.
The purpose of government is NOT ruling over as many people as one can.
The purpose of government is NOT squeezing the people for as much tax revenue as one can.
The purpose of government is NOT being a petty despot, taking what one wants without consequences.
The purpose of government is NOT EVEN educating or feeding the people.
The primary purpose of government, from the earliest conception of government, has been this one thing:
To protect the people from raiders.
Everything else was added later.