Name 5 Things the Government Does Well

Well we are certainly not moving forward. Not in terms of standard of living. Not anymore... Worse food, less clean water supply, poorer education, more impoverishment. Some western countries seem to be slowly becoming third world countries. So yes, I'd have to say regress fits on that list.

$0.00

[-]

teamsteem (74) · 8 years ago

I get your point and I agree but I meant to say the government ain't regressing, regression for the society at large is what is the goal of government. I guess it's just an unimportant precision where it's not the government that is regressing but the situation of it's people.

$0.00

[-]

son-of-satire (69) · 8 years ago

I get it. The government is good at causing regression, but shit at regressing itself, because it is constantly looking to expand, in order to cause more regression. Lol.

$0.00

[-]

teamsteem (74) · 8 years ago

Exactly.

$0.00

[-]

jessallen (36) · 8 years ago

Inspires us to believe we can manage ourselves better
Show us how powerful they can be even when we disagree
Motivates us to create systems to get rid of government
Provide a great example of a what well meaning but clueless looks like
Gives the appearance they will protect us against the bad guys

$0.09

3 votes

[-]

grandpere (66) · 8 years ago

Small test really interesting! To a positive question, 99% of responses are negative. Everyone sees the black dot on a white sheet and yet 99.9999 ...% of the sheet is white!
Are we deviant? Do we have the right to be positive?
This is not a survey and this test has no scientific value but several people will make the following conclusions:
99% of those who answered the question believe that governments do nothing well.
99% of Steemit users believe governments are doing nothing well.
99% of citizens believe that governments do nothing well.
But others will say that 99% of respondents are dissatisfied and that they represent less than 1% of Steemit users. Thus, 99% think that governments do well.
Oops! What is our behavior towards our loved ones?
Has Stemit demonstrated that it is a better government?
Https://steemit.com/steem/@snowflake/guardian-of-the-steem-universe-a-different-perspective-on-the-role-of-whales-within-steem-ecosystem-part-2

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

son-of-satire (69) · 8 years ago

I think you have it backwards. The tiny black dot on the piece of paper is representative of the usefulness of governments. The surrounding whiteness is the negative aspects of government.

Sure, this could be a matter of perception. But, I think anyone that takes the time to look into the efficacy--or lack thereof-- of governments is going to arrive at the same conclusion. At least by today's standards.

$0.00

[-]

justtryme90 (71) · 8 years ago (edited)

Better than the private sector? Run programs for the common good that are not profitable but needed by people who fall on the wrong side of the usefulness bell curve.

"Does well" is not a particularly useful descriptor because it is up to someone's opinion as to what well means. Your definition of does well and my definition could be quite different from each other.

Government usefulness is a tricky subject because on one hand if people were all rational it would not be necessary at all. However many people refuse to work under a logical framework. Shrugs

$0.00

2 votes

[-]

acidyo (80) · 8 years ago

You are the only one in the thread who tried to come up with something positive as an answer. Kinda funny. :D

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

justtryme90 (71) · 8 years ago

Well the prompt was to name things the government does well. There are things. It's easy to list things governments fail at, but its not hard to reason logically to see why they exist.

$0.00

[-]

lemouth (72) · 8 years ago

That's true. Many services are necessary and would not be there without a government to fund them.

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

steevc (73) · 8 years ago

I don't really want to see people profiting from essential services such as hospitals, police, prisons etc. I know governments seem to struggle to run those efficiently. Unfortunately UK governments have decided to sell off a lot of services for short term profit.

Politicians are human with all the usual issues, but you will get a mix of good and bad as in any field. There will be lots of tempting offers made by those with the money. It's a messy business.

Anyone want to volunteer to run a country?

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

justtryme90 (71) · 8 years ago

This is how I see it too. Not everything can be purely profit driven and with a free market profit, at the end of the day, is the name of the game. Governments are certainly not good in all aspects, neither are corporations, neither is any organization made up of people. People are imperfect.

Things are going to be messy, their will be corruption, there will be failures, but their will also be some services that are best run with out the intention of net profits.

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

will-zewe (61) · 8 years ago

I could run it better in a heartbeat. First order of business abolish borrowing from the private banking cartel, fix that and watch how much becomes available to actually fund social services.

Politicians are either ignorant of how money lending works, or they're not and they're ok with selling the people out to the private banks. Either way they are unacceptable as leaders.

$0.00

[-]

steevc (73) · 8 years ago

I expect it's not so easy. Lots of competing interests to deal with. I wouldn't want the job

$0.00

[-]

tuck-fheman (74) · 8 years ago

lie
steal
incarcerate
kill
expand

Not necessarily in that order.

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

richq11 (72) · 8 years ago (edited)

Coerce
Steal
Kill
Enslave
Deceive

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

darth-azrael (67) · 8 years ago

bureaucracy
waste
theft
murder
deceit

$0.00

1 vote

[-]

anotherjoe (66) · 8 years ago

haha, tough to come up with anything positive. They can't even build good roads. ;) For the sake of my perception of this post, I'll consider government to be synonymous with the state. The only reason I bring that up is because I do think it is possible for the government (as merely administration) to do something positive well. Some countries have shown this to some degree, such as Switzerland and Luxembourg. It is impossible for the state (coercive element) to do something positive well. The US (among others) is proving this point quite aptly.

Extort
Corrupt
Warmonger
Coerce
Terrorize

$0.00

[-]

patrice (65) · 8 years ago

Create jobs by legislating burdensome regulation and compliance reporting requirements that increase not only taxes to we pay for those jobs but also the cost of goods and services we pay for.

I think it was estimated that Vanderbilt university pays something like $11k per year per student for compliance & reporting, some of which has nothing to do with education or college at all.

ACA created new medical reporting codes that require even further breakdown of diagnosis codes. Did you get that sunburn in your back yard or on a boat? Scratched by a bird? Be ready to tell the doctor exactly what kind of bird. Did you get hurt at a Rock and Roll concert or a Classical performance? Did you get hit by an instrument? Was that a brass instrument or string?

Idiocy.