Government Essay

1. What are the major functions performed by all governments? Give Examples of how these functions are performed in the United States.
One of the principal functions of government is to remain in power. Many of the actions of politicians and civil servants can be explained by the need to maintain and enhance their power. Every government strives to increase its legitimacy in the eyes of the people. It may identify itself with being traditional and/or with hope for the future. (For example, what the candidates at the Tea Party Debate did, telling the people what they want to hear.)   All governments recognize the principle that the public must be protected and served. The citizen, in effect, surrenders a degree of individual sovereignty to the government in return for protection of life and property and the delivery of essential services. Governments supervise the resolution of conflicting interests, the workings of the political process, the enforcement of laws and rights, and the monitoring of national income and international trade; they regulate economic and social relationships among individuals and private organizations; and they carry out enterprises such as production of military goods, provision of postal services, and ownership of power utilities and public works. Among the most basic services provided by government are the printing and coining of money, the provision of roads, sewers, water, education, and social and welfare services.
With the growth of the welfare state, governments began to provide services such as social security and health insurance. In the United States the government sets minimum wages, limits the rates charged by public utilities, buys farm commodities to keep prices up, forbids the sale of harmful foods and drugs, sets standards for gasoline consumption by automobiles, requires manufacturers to install antipollution devices, and monitors the safety of factories. Federal, state, and local governments in the United States also...