What is the function of the state?

[jimmie]

4 pages in and no one has posted this?:
Quote:
...establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...

I too believe that is what the state SHOULD be.

So, do you believe there should be more than one state?

 

[Skyhunter]

I too believe that is what the state SHOULD be.
So, do you believe there should be more than one state?

Not if it is to be truly sovereign. Sovereignty of State is an illusion, as long as there is another State to challenge it's sovereignty.

 

[jimmie]

Not if it is to be truly sovereign. Sovereignty of State is an illusion, as long as there is another State to challenge it's sovereignty.

That was my point: should there be ONLY one state?

 

[devil-fire]

4 pages in and no one has posted this?: "...establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity... "

this is the nuts and bolts of a democracy but i think it leaves out any kind of dictatorship.

 

[russ_watters]

this is the nuts and bolts of a democracy but i think it leaves out any kind of dictatorship.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Are you saying that we should include the functions of a dictatorship? The way I see it, the functions of the state should be laid out first, then the system of government designed around those functions to carry them out to the best extent possible.

 

[The Smoking Man]

That was my point: should there be ONLY one state?

Sure ... then we'll only have 'civil' wars.

 

[The Smoking Man]

I'm not sure what you mean by that. Are you saying that we should include the functions of a dictatorship? The way I see it, the functions of the state should be laid out first, then the system of government designed around those functions to carry them out to the best extent possible.

Hmmm ... "the system of government designed around those functions to carry them out to the best extent possible."

You mean until the population or the government figure out how to circumvent the 'plan'?

Even the best plan put forward so far has allowed for malnourished children and abuse of power... The USA.

When you get the largest corporations and highest earners getting refunds while the middle class 'foots the bill', you can't say it is working as intended.

I mean ... in some cases it is blatantly obvious ... Halliburton gets done for criminal overbilling the government on the one hand and then gets a tax refund from the other!?

In China, everybody has figured out how to beat the system.

Until Klaatu arrives and stands behind any government that is put into power threatening to blow their heads off if he sees anything suspicious, this is going to be 'business as usual' on planet earth.

 

[Smasherman]

Government is a lot like the Italian mafia: the local mob boss protects you from other mob bosses in exchange for a small fee. If you refuse to pay, not only does the protection cease, but he's probably going to attack you himself. They've got a really nice racket going if you ask me.

That's my older brother's opinion of government, too (US government, anyway). It's one of those metaphors (simile in this case) that seems nearly perfect.

 

[Smasherman]

Thanks, i write it myself, but i think someone should have said it before.

Awesome. I'll put your screen name and the PF url on my list.

 

[X-43D]

The state is a monopoly of coercion in a given territory. The necessity for distinct organs of administration, repression and assistance has its cause in the maintenance of class society. The state is the defender of the dominant class which is increasingly integrated into it.

Many political philosophies that are opposed to the existence of a government (such as anarchism and to a lesser extent Marxism, as well as others), emphasize the historical roots of governments - the fact that governments, along with private property, originated from the authority of warlords and despots who took, by force land as their own (and began exercising authority over the people living on that land). Thus, it is sometimes argued that governments exist to enforce the will of the strong and oppress the weak, maintaining and protecting the privilege of a ruling class. It states that the government emerged when all the people of an area were brought under the authority of one person or group.

http://www.infoshop.org/faq/secB2.html

 

[russ_watters]

(re-opened after discussion with the other mods...)